March 11, 2016

Photo Gallery | Round 1 Results

By Chris Masters

MESA, Ariz. — As the No. 20 University of Notre Dame women’s golf team walked off the Longbow Golf Club course following Friday’s first round of the fifth annual Clover Cup, three little words by the legendary rock band The Eagles in the refrain of a hit song based in a town not far away in Winslow, Arizona, came to mind:

“Take it easy.”

It certainly was a simple or pleasing first round for the Fighting Irish, who find themselves in a tie for seventh place at 299 (+11) after Friday’s first 18 holes in the 17-team tournament that is co-sponsored by the Longbow Golf Club (par 72/6,184 yards) and Visit Mesa.

Freshman Isabella DiLisio (Hatfield, Pa./Mount Saint Joseph Academy) is Notre Dame’s top individual through one round, moving into a tie for seventh place in the 99-golfer field after carding a one-under par 71 on Friday.

Freshman Isabella DiLisio posted her team-high eighth round under par this year with an opening-round 71 (-1) on Friday at the fifth annual Clover Cup in Mesa, Arizona.

While none of the Fighting Irish players were thrilled with Friday’s performance — in fact, each of them spent a little added time on the driving range and putting green after the round — head coach Susan Holt was quick to remind her charges to follow the advice so eloquently stated in The Eagles’ song.

“Sure we’re disappointed with the way things went (today) and there were a lot of shots we left out there,” Holt said. “But the best thing we can do right now is let it go as quickly as we can, relax and move on. It’s one bad round — it happens to even the best teams in the country and the best golfers in the world. We’ve got a lot of great golf still in us and I’m confident we’ll come out here (tomorrow) and bounce back well.”

TCU owns the overnight team lead at 284, one shot ahead of SMU. South Florida’s Nicole Autrique and TCU’s Brooke Graebe share the individual lead after posting matching scores of five-under par 67.

Senior captain Talia Campbell (Dallas, Texas/Ursuline Academy) is tied for 27th place at 74 (+2), while the other three Fighting Irish players in the lineup all shot matching scores of 77 (+5) on Friday — freshman Emma Albrecht (Ormond Beach, Fla./Father Lopez), junior Jordan Ferreira (University Park, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) and freshman Maddie Rose Hamilton (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy).

Among the highlights of Friday’s round for Notre Dame were a pair of solid efforts from two of the team’s individual participants who were making their season debuts. Junior Janie Fineis (East Lansing, Mich./Lansing Catholic) is tied for 66th place after shooting 79 (+7), one stroke off her career low. Meanwhile, sophomore Alison Snakard (Collegeville, Pa./Mount Saint Joseph Academy) shares 70th place following a career-low 80 (+8) in the opening round. Sophomore Kari Bellville (Granger, Ind./Penn) also is competing as an individual this weekend and is tied for 89th place after opening with an 84 (+12).

Notre Dame will return to the links at 10 a.m. ET (8 a.m. MT) Saturday for the second round of the Clover Cup. Live scoring will be available through the BirdieFire web site (BirdieFire.com), with in-progress updates also provided through the Fighting Irish women’s golf Twitter feed (@NDwomensGolf).

For more information on the Notre Dame women’s golf program, visit the women’s golf page of the official Fighting Irish athletics web site (UND.com/ndwomensgolf), sign up to follow the Notre Dame women’s golf Twitter feed (@NDwomensGolf) or register for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the “Fan Center” pulldown menu on the front page at UND.com.

Clover Cup
March 11-13, 2016
Longbow Golf Club (par 72/6,184 yards)
Mesa, Arizona

TEAM SCORES (18-hole totals): 1. TCU 284; 2. SMU 285; 3. South Florida 288; 4. Oklahoma 290; 5. UNCW 291; 6. FIU 296; 7. (tie) NOTRE DAME 299 and Tulsa 299; 9. (tie) Penn State 301 and Nebraska 301; 11. Cincinnati 303; 12. Ole Miss 305; 13. Central Arkansas 308; 14. Columbia 317; 15. IUPUI 319; 16. UNCG 324; 17. Central Michigan 332.

TOP 12 INDIVIDUALS PLUS NOTRE DAME GOLFERS (of 99): 1. (tie) Nicole Autrique (USF) 67 and Brooke Graebe (TCU) 67; 3. Hannah Wood (OU) 68; 4. Katie Page (SMU) 69; 5. (tie) Alexandra Rossi (SMU) 70 and Meghan MacLaren (FIU) 70; 7. (tie) Isabella DiLisio (ND) 71, Carla Jane (FIU) 71, Annika Clark (TCU) 71, Annette Lyche (UNCW) 71, Rylee Pedigo (OU) 71 and Antonia Von Wnuck (TU) 71; 27. (tie) Talia Campbell (ND) 74; 49. (tie) Emma Albrecht (ND) 77, Jordan Ferreira (ND) 77 and Maddie Rose Hamilton (ND) 77; 66. (tie) Janie Fineis (ND)* 79; 70. (tie) Alison Snakard (ND)* 80; 89. (tie) Kari Bellville (ND)* 84.
* – competing as individual participant

— ND —

Chris Masters, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2001 and coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s golf and women’s basketball programs. A native of San Francisco, California, Masters is a 1996 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, earned his master’s degree from Kansas State University in 1998, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).