April 5, 2002
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team returns to action this weekend, Saturday and Sunday, April 6-7, when the Irish visit Bloomington, Ind., for the 26th edition of the Indiana Invitational. The 14-team tournament will be played at the par 74, 6,134-yard Indiana University Golf Club. Play will begin with a shotgun start each morning at 7:30 a.m.
The 54-hole Indiana Invitational will be the first tournament for the Irish since the middle of March when they finished second at the Snowbird Invitational in Tampa, Fla. The Irish shot a 617 (313-304) for 36-holes to finish 17 strokes behind tourney champion Arkansas State. Freshman Karen Lotta (Los Angeles, Calif.) was Notre Dame’s top finisher with a six-over par 150 (77-73).
The Irish were 13th in a field of 15 teams at last year’s Invitational with a 54-hole total of 993 (339-337-317). Three members of the 2001-02 team who will compete this weekend played in the 2001 tournament. Shannon Byrne (So., Arlington Heights, Ill.) finished in a tie for 42nd with a 23-over par 245 total. Junior Terri Taibl (Elm Grove, Wis.) was 62nd with a 253 and senior Kristen McMurtrie (Calgary, Alb.) was 74th with a 266.
Joining the Irish in this year’s field are Arkansas-Little Rock, Illinois, Illinois State, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kent State, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio University, and Wisconsin.
Coach Debby King will take seven golfers to Bloomington led by Lotta who has been Notre Dame’s top golfer all season long. She has a 79.06 average for the year and has had four top-10 finishes in seven tournaments to date.
Following Lotta are McMurtrie and Byrne, who have been Notre Dame’s top finishers in the three tourneys that Lotta didn’t lead the way. McMurtrie is coming off her best outing of the season, an eight-place finish at the Snowbird Invitational – and is second with and 81.14 average for the year. Byrne is right behind her with an 81.18 mark for her sophomore year.
Taibl is fourth on Notre Dame’s scoring chart with an 82.29 average and is followed by Rebecca Rogers (So., Alpharetta, Ga.), Lauren Fuchs (Sr., Louisville, Ky.) and freshman Casey Rotella (Keswick, Va.). Rogers has played in six tournaments this year and has an 84.50 average. Fuchs is right behind Rogers with an 84.69 mark and Rotella rounds out the group with an 85.75 average.
Following the Indiana Invitational, the Irish close out the 2001-02 golf campaign on April 20-21 at the Ohio State Buckeye Invitational in Columbus, Ohio.