Clover Cup

Irish Set For 2019 ACC Championship

ACC CHAMPIONSHIP CENTRAL

NOTRE DAME, Ind. — In what promises to be one of the most competitive conference tournaments in the country, the Notre Dame women’s golf team is set to compete in the 31st Annual ACC Women’s Golf Championship from April 18-20 in Greensboro, North Carolina.

A total of 10 of the 12 teams that comprise the ACC women’s golf membership are slotted in the top 50 of the latest Golfstat women’s college golf rankings entering the conference championship. The three-day tournament will take place at the championship course at Sedgefield Country Club. The No. 11 seed Irish will get underway at 9 a.m. ET on Thursday and, paired with No. 10 Virginia Tech and No. 12 Boston College, will start on hole one.

This weekend’s tournament marks Notre Dame’s sixth ACC Championship appearance since joining the conference in 2014 and the fourth Irish start at Sedgefield Country Club. Notre Dame tied for fifth at the 2014 ACC tournament (306-303-296=905) and placed sixth at the 2015 conference tournament (287-295-294=876) during the first two Irish ACC appearances at the venue.

Following a 10th-place showing for Notre Dame last season at the Grandover Resort & Conference Center East Course, also located in Greensboro, the ACC Championship returns to Sedgefield Country Club for the ninth time in the past 11 years.

“We’re excited to be returning to Sedgefield Country Club for the ACC Championship this year,” Notre Dame head coach Susan Holt said. “It is a very challenging course that will require us to manage our games a lot better than we have been. We have the talent to compete we just need to execute better come tournament time.”

2019 ACC Championship

Dates: April 18-20, 2019
Format: 54 holes (18 holes Thursday-Saturday)
Tee Times (split tees off No. 1 and No. 10): 9-10:30 a.m. ET Thursday. Exact Friday and Saturday tee times determined by team standings at close of prior round.
Location: Greensboro, North Carolina
Course (Par/Yardage): Sedgefield Country Club – Championship Course (par-72/ 6,089 yards)
TV Coverage: ACC Network Extra | 2 p.m. (ET) on Friday, 1:30 p.m. (ET) on Saturday
Roy Philpott – Play-by-Play | Donna Andrews – Analyst
Tournament Field (in order of seeding/Golfstat ranking): Duke (3), Wake Forest (8), Florida State (12), Virginia (17), Miami (19), Clemson (28), North Carolina (31), Louisville (42), NC State (47), Virginia Tech (48), Notre Dame (79), Boston College (138).
Notre Dame Lineup: Emma Albrecht (1), Abby Heck (2), Mia Ayer (3), Claire Albrecht (4), Isabella DiLisio (5).
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
Twitter: @NDwomensGolf

Career Best Rounds (most recent occurrence listed)

    •    Emma Albrecht: 67 (third round of the 2018 NCAA Madison Regional at the University Ridge Golf Course)
    •    Isabella DiLisio: 67 (second round of the 2017 Schooner Fall Classic at the Belmar Golf Club)
    •    Maddie Rose Hamilton: 65 (second round of the 2017 Schooner Fall Classic at the Belmar Golf Club)
    •    Mia Ayer: 71 (third round of the 2018 Schooner Fall Classic at the Belmar Golf Club)
    •    Abby Heck: 68 (first round of the 2019 Moon Golf Invitational)
    •    Claire Albrecht: 72 (third round of the 2018 Minnesota Invitational at the Prestwick Golf Club)

Noting The 2018-19 Season

    •    Notre Dame enters the ACC Championship with a 296.3 stroke average through eight tournament and 23 rounds in the 2018-19 regular season. Emma Albrecht (72.6) and Abby Heck (74.1) rank among the top 30 players in the conference in scoring average this season.
    •    Notre Dame opened the 2018-19 campaign with a seventh-place showing at the Minnesota Invitational (Sept. 10-11) with a team score of 882 (292-295-295). Claire Albrecht paced all Irish players with a career-best finish in a tie for 14th place (75-72-72=219, +3).
    •    In its very next start out, Notre Dame placed 10th at the Schooner Fall Classic (Sept. 28-30) with a three-round total of 851 (291-282-278, -1). The 6-under-par 278 in round three was the best team score in both total strokes and relation to par for the Irish this season.
    •    Three different Irish players fired sub-70 rounds on the final day at the Schooner Fall Classic, with Emma Albrecht, Abby Heck and Isabella DiLisio carding matching 2-under-par rounds of 69. It was Heck’s second sub-70 round of the tournament, to go along with a 68 (-3) in the second round.
    •    Notre Dame enjoyed its best team finish of the season, placing fifth at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational (Oct. 5-7) in Lexington, Kentucky, with a three-round score of 881 (291-293-297=881, +17). Emma Albrecht turned in her first of two top-five finishes thus far this season, sharing fourth place at 3-under-par (70-71-72=213).
    •    Abby Heck and Emma Albrecht each shined during the Notre Dame spring debut at the Moon Golf Invitational (Feb. 18-19), with Heck taking solo second place with a scintillating 9-under-par total (68-70-69=207), while Albrecht shared 13th place at 3-under (69-71-73=213).
    •    Heck not only established career bests for 18 (68, round one), 36 (138) and 54-hole scoring at the Moon Golf Invitational, but her three-round total of 207 equaled the best individual tournament score in program history. Heck matched Albrecht’s effort at the 2018 Westbrook Invitational (70-67-70) and Nicole Zhang at the 2010 Mary Fossum Invitational (69-67-71).
    •    Notre Dame tied for fifth the following week at the Westbrook Invitational (Feb. 24-25), posting a final team score of 4-under-par 860 (288-286-286). Emma Albrecht earned co runner-up honors at 8-under-par for the event (70-68-70=208).
    •    The run at the Westbrook Invitational for Albrecht led to the Irish senior firing five scores under par over her first six rounds of the 2019 spring schedule. In fact, 12 of Albrecht’s 23 total rounds thus far in 2018-19 have finished at par or better (team-high eight scores under par).
    •    A pair of Irish players found their way into the top-15 finishers at the Clover Cup (March 15-17), hosted by Notre Dame in Mesa, Arizona. Isabella DiLisio turned in her first top 10 of the season with a 5-over-par score that left her in a tie for seventh place (75-73-73=221), while Emma Albrecht shared 11th place (72-74-77=223, +7).

Notre Dame Under Coach Holt

    •    Head coach Susan Holt is in her 13th season leading the Irish. Over the previous 12 seasons, she has led Notre Dame to 10 NCAA regional appearances and helped Notre Dame earn its first NCAA Championship berth in program history (2011).
    •    In addition, the Irish have captured four conference titles, won 17 tournament championships (team) and had 15 individual medalist winners.
    •    Holt’s Irish players have also earned 27 all-conference accolades as well as the first two All-America selections in Notre Dame women’s golf history.

Conference Tournament Overview

    •    Notre Dame has finished in the top five in 12 of its previous 16 conference tournament appearances, dating back to the inaugural BIG EAST Conference Championship in 2003.
    •    Last season at the ACC Championship, Notre Dame finished in 10th place (300-304-293=897). Emma Albrecht led the Irish for the second straight year at the championship with a 17th-place finish (74-73-73=220).
    •    Entering its sixth ACC Championship, Notre Dame is seeking its first ACC tournament title and sixth conference championship overall.
    •    Notre Dame’s most recent conference title came in the 2012-13 BIG EAST Championship.
    •    Five Notre Dame golfers have posted four consecutive top-15 finishes in conference tournament play, including (in BIG EAST play) Katie Brophy (2003-06), Noriko Nakazaki (2004-07), Annie Brophy (2007-10) and Becca Huffer (2009-12). Then in 2016 Talia Campbell became the fifth Notre Dame golfer to post four consecutive top-15 finishes in conference tournament play.