Feb. 28, 2001
By Tim Connor
The spring sports schedules have started and even though it’s still winter in northen Indiana, the Notre Dame women’s golf team has begun play in what should be an exciting spring season.
The women opened the season earlier this week at Pinehurst , N.C. at the Carolina’s Collegiate Golf Classic played at the Pinehurst #8 course. Despite a rough season start with a 22nd place finish, Irish head coach Ross Smith is optimistic about the coming season.
Smith and his young and improving golf squad will look to continue moving up in the golf ranks among schools in the NCAA Central Region. While continued improvement is important for Smith and his golfers, they won’t be happy until they have reached the NCAA Central Regional tournament.
“The ultimate goal for our program is to get to the NCAA Regionals,” says Smith.
“The top 18 schools in our district qualify. When you look at the top 30 teams in the nation, 12 of them are in our region. We will really need to have a strong spring to get to that level.” The Notre Dame women have a strong foursome of golfers that will be the backbone of this year’s squad. All four had strong, consistent fall seasons. The remaining team members will be in the running for the fifth and sixth slots in the regular lineup. The competition on this year’s team pleases Smith, now in his eighth season at Notre Dame.
“We are much more competitive as a team than in the past. They know that they have to play well and shoot good scores to make the travel squad and play each week. That type of competition will help us become a better team, ” explains Smith.
One player that Smith knows he doesn’t have to worry about is his team captain, senior Shane Smith (St. Petersburg, Fla.). The steadiest and most consistent golfer on the team, Smith already has her name displayed prominently in the Notre Dame record books.
Her 80.38 average during the 1999-2000 season was the third best single-season average in the program’s history and her career total of 82.02 during her first two seasons is the best career average for the Irish.
Smith, who transferred to Notre Dame from Southern Methodist prior to the fall of 1998, should lower that average even further this season as her 79.9 fall average was tops on the team. “Shane is everything you could want in an athlete at Notre Dame. She works hard in the classroom and works hard on improving her game. On top of that she is a great person. She has worked very hard to achieve the success that she has had here, ” says Smith.
Notre Dame’s top finisher in three of five fall tournaments, Smith will be joined by junior Kristin McMurtrie (Calgary, Alb.) as the second upperclassmen among the top four.
McMurtrie is coming off a strong sophomore year in which she led the team in rounds played (22) and was third with an 81.96 average. She finished among ND’s top golfers in six of nine tournaments. Her third place finish (76-73-149, +5) at the Northern Illinois Snowbird Invitational was the team’s best 36-hole finish of the season.
During the fall, McMurtrie played in all five tournaments and averaged 81.92 in 12 rounds of play.
Two freshmen, Shannon Byrne (Arlington Heights, Ill.) and Rebecca Rogers (Alpharetta, Ga.) round out Smith’s top four golfers as both had impressive fall seasons.
Byrne came out of the fall preseason qualifying ranked second on the team and went on to play in all five fall matches averaging an 81.17 to finish among Notre Dame’s top three golfers in four of five tournaments.
“Shannon is a very talented player. I was really pleased with the way she played this fall and I really expect her to improve with the more experience she gets,” commented Smith.
Rogers got better as the fall went on and finished with an 81.33 average over five tournaments including an impressive win at the Notre Dame Invitational in mid-October. Rogers shot a 54-hole total of 225, which included a two-under par 70 in the first round, the lowest round ever recorded by a Notre Dame women’s golfer.
“I was very impressed by Rebecca’s fall season. She’s a steady player who just got better with each week. I’m expecting big things from her this spring,” says Smith.
The real competition on the team will come for the five and six spots on a weekly basis. Six players will be in the running as the Irish spend time in North Carolina and Florida in preparation for the northern portion of the schedule.
Terri Taibl (So., Elm Grove, Wisc.) will be ND’s No. 5 golfer when the Irish open the season at Pinehurst. She had the fifth-best mark scoring average in the fall with an 82.17 mark.
Following the trip to the Carolina Collegiate Classic, Smith will then take ten golfers to the Snowbird Invitational in Tampa, Fla., in mid-March where they will all play and have a chance to prove to their coach that they belong in the top five for the remaining spring schedule.
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| Junior Kristin McMurtrie had a strong fall for the Irish averaging 81.92 while playing in all five of the team’s tournaments. |
The remaining spring schedule is where the Irish can move up in the region as the schedule includes appearances against many of the top teams in the region at the William and Mary Invitational, the Indiana University Invitational and the Illinois Invitational.
The group that will be looking to crack the top six, are senior Danielle Villarosa (Verona, N.J.), junior Lauren Fuchs (Louisville, Ken.), sophomores Priscilla Ro (Falls Church, Va.) and Shelby Strong (Stillwater, Minn.) and freshman Jeanne Murphy (Alexandria, Va.).
While Smith is looking for big things in the coming season, he also points out that the future is very bright for the women’s program at Notre Dame.
“Notre Dame and the school’s administration have really made a commitment to the women’s program,” explains Smith.
“We will become fully-funded by the 2004-2005 season. We have a brand new course that is one of the best in the country and we have excellent practice facilities. With the academic reputation Notre Dame has, all this goes toward taking the golf program to the national level. I don’t think that weather and location can be used as an excuse anymore. There are plenty of strong programs in the north and I can’t wait to become one of them.”