Oct. 8, 2016
By Claire Kramer
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame Women’s Golf Team will travel to The Woodlands, Texas, this weekend for the Jim West Challenge, held at The Club at Carlton Woods.
The Irish are riding momentum from their sixth-place finish at the Schooner Fall Classic and #38 ranking from Golfweek. They will look to make an impact on the 15-team field, which includes nine top-50 teams.
“This is another very good field with a lot of quality teams, Head Coach Susan Holt said. “We will need to show up all three rounds to have a good showing.”
This marks the first time Notre Dame has participated in the Jim West Challenge. Hosted by Texas State University, the tournament will be played on The Fazio Course at The Club at Carlton Woods, a change from previous years.
In 2015, Kent State University won the tournament, with current Texas Tech junior Gabby Barker and current Kent State sophomore Michaela Finn splitting the individual honors.
“We haven’t been to this tournament before so it will be our first time seeing the course,” Coach Holt said. “A lot of the other teams in the field are regulars at this event and will have an advantage on us so we will need to really take in a lot of information during the practice round and be ready to compete.”
The Details
Date: Oct. 9-10, 2016
Format: 36 continuous holes on Sunday, 18 holes on Monday
Tee Times: Shotgun start at 9:30 a.m. ET Sunday, 10:30 ET Monday
Location: The Woodlands, Texas
The Course: The Fazio Course at The Club at Carlton Woods (Par 72– 6,137 yards)
Tournament Field: Florida State, Houston, Jacksonville, Kent State, Miami, Missouri, North Texas, Notre Dame, Oklahoma, TCU, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas State, Texas Tech, UTSA.
Live Scoring: BirdieFire.com
Lineup
Sophomore Emma Albrecht will again lead the Irish in the #1 spot, coming off her 10th-place finish at the Schooner Classic. She will be followed up by sophomores Isabella DiLisio and Maddie Rose Hamilton in the second and third spots for the Irish. Senior Jordan Ferreira and freshman Mia Ayer round out the Irish lineup. All five golfers finished in the top 60 at the Schooner Classic
Coach Holt on preparing and expectations…
“Now that we have the first tournament under our belt, we will be looking to go out and play the kind of golf we are capable of. During our first event, we were a bit sloppy with our play at times and our course management wasn’t what it needs to be. We just need to be more focused and stay in the moment while competing. This is a very talented group but you have to do the little things well no matter how good you are to be competitive at the level we are playing at.”
— ND —
Kramer is a junior student assistant for Fighting Irish Media, working closely with the Athletics Communications Directors for the men’s golf, basketball and tennis programs. An American Studies major with minors in Theology and Journalism, Ethics and Democracy, Kramer is from Olathe, Kansas.