Sept. 10, 2004
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team will travel to Ann Arbor, Michigan to compete in the Lady Northern Invitational this Saturday and Sunday, Sept. 11 and 12. The 15-team field will take to the par 72, 5,966-yard University of Michigan Golf Course for 36-holes of play on Saturday, followed by the final round of 18-holes on Sunday. The Irish, who placed third at last weekend’s Notre Dame Invitational, hope to continue their solid play heading into the second tournament of the season.
The Irish shot extremely well en route to their third-place showing at the Fifth Annual Notre Dame Invitational. As a team they fired a 914, which eclipsed the team’s previous low-mark for the tournament by 21 strokes. Senior Karen Lotta (Los Angeles, CA/Marymount), who was playing as an individual and not a member of the scoring five for the Irish, fired a Warren Golf Course record four-under par 68 in the final round of play. She finished with a five-over par 221 for the tournament to place in a tie for second-place overall. Sophomore Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, IL/Hoffman Estates) finished strong with a one-over par 73 during the third round, propelling her into a seventh-place finish.
Joining Lotta and Nakazaki in Ann Arbor will be junior co-captain Katie Brophy (Spokane, WA/Gonzaga Prep), junior Lauren Gebauer (Columbus, OH/Upper Arlington) and sophomore Stacy Brown (The Woodlands, TX/The Woodlands). All three of them carded a 14-over par 230 to finish as part of a five-way tie for 12th-place at the Notre Dame Invitational. Freshman Jane Lee (Palos Verdes Estates, CA/Peninsula) earned the sixth and final spot for the Irish during team qualifying on Thursday afternoon. Lee tied for 17th last weekend with a three round total of 231.
The Lady Northern Invitational will serve as a preview to the 2005 Big Ten Conference Women’s Golf Championship. All 11 Big Ten schools will participate in this weekend’s competition along with four other programs, including Notre Dame. Each team is allowed to enter six golfers and the top four individual scores will count towards the team score. The Irish last competed in a Lady Northern Invitational back in the 2000-01 season up in Minnesota, where they placed 13th.
Five teams that ranked in the top-30 of the golfweek.com preseason poll will be on hand for this weekend’s tournament. Missouri is the highest ranked squad at 17, while Ohio State (21), Purdue (23), Northwestern (27) and Notre Dame (29) joined the Tigers in the rankings. Individually, Ohio State’s Kristen White was a first team preseason All-American selection according to golfweek.com and Purdue’s Myrte Eikenaar was named to the third team.
Competition gets underway both days with a shotgun start beginning at 8:30 a.m. (EDT). Saturday’s second round will begin immediately following the first round. Live scoring will be available through www.golfstat.com and results for each day’s action will be posted nightly on the University of Michigan Athletic Department web site at www.mgoblue.com. For additional information please log on to www.und.com or call the Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
2004 Lady Northern Invitational Field: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kent State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Penn State, Purdue, Wisconsin
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