March 31, 2011
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame women’s golf team is set for a special tournament Friday, the 39th Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic, which is one of the most established women’s intercollegiate events. The three-day event is held at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga. This particular year is special because the tournament features new playing and scoring methods.
Rather than the tradition scoring method of three golfers from various schools playing together, each team will compete together as a quintet. Additionally, each team’s best four scores from each hole counts toward the final score, as opposed to the four best scores at the end of the round counting.
The 54-hole tournament features one round of play each day with a shotgun start, Friday and Saturday at 9:30 a.m. (ET), followed by 9:00 a.m. Sunday on the 7,240 yard and par-72 course.
Among the 23-team field are five top-10 ranked teams (golfstat.com), including third-ranked Alabama, defending champion, No. 4 Duke, No. 5 Purdue, No. 6 LSU, and No. 7 Virginia. Teams who are featured in the top 25 are No. 12 Arkansas, No. 13 Georgia, No. 15 Michigan State, No. 17 Wake Forest, No. 19 Auburn, No. 22 North Carolina and No. 24 Oklahoma.
Despite the tough field, Notre Dame enters the tournament with confidence as the Irish claimed the John Kirk/Intercollegiate Invitational crown with junior Becca Huffer (Denver, Colo./Littleton) finishing in second place (211/-5), which earned her the BIG EAST Women’s Golfer of the Week.
In addition to Huffer, seniors So-Hyun Park (Seoul, South Korea/Bradenton Prep Academy) and Katie Conway (Wading River, N.Y./Shoreham-Wading River) and freshmen Nicole Zhang (Calgary, Alberta/Bishop Carroll) and Kristina Nhim (Cypress, Calif./Cypress) are set to tee-it-up for the Irish Friday.
Check back to und.com daily for complete results and a recap of the 2011 Liz Murphey Collegiate Classic. Live results of each round will be available through und.com.
–ND–