Oct. 8, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team hopes to keep the ball rolling on an already successful fall campaign as they head to The Shoot-Out at The Legends in Franklin, Ind. for their third event of the season. Notre Dame is the defending champion of the tournament, which is played at The Legends of Indiana Golf Course. Nineteen teams will take to the par 72, 6,076-yard course on Monday, Oct. 10 and Tuesday, Oct. 11. The Irish are coming off a solid fourth-place finish at the Lady Northern Invitational back on Sept. 24 and 25.
TOURNAMENT: This will mark Notre Dame’s fourth straight trip to the Shoot-Out at The Legends. The Irish have improved their finish each year, culminating in last season’s title. A 19th-place finish in 2001 was bettered with a 13th-place showing in 2002. Notre Dame cracked the top-10 in 2003 by finishing seventh. Last year, the Fighting Irish captured the hardware with a 37-over par 901 total. Classmates Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) and Lauren Gebauer (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) led the way as they each posted an 11-over par 227 to place in a tie for 17th.
FORMAT: Each team’s lineup will consist of five golfers, with the lowest four scores for each round counting towards the overall team score. Two rounds will be played on Monday, while the third and final round takes place on Tuesday.
FIELD: Comprising the field along with the Irish will be Ball State, Campbell, Cincinnati, Eastern Michigan, Georgetown, Illinois, Illinois State, Indiana, Iowa, Kent State, Louisville, Missouri, Northern Illinois, Ohio, Rutgers, St. John’s, Southern Illinois and Toledo. The Irish will see some familiar faces on the course as they have already competed against seven of the 19 teams so far this season (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Eastern Michigan, Georgetown, Illinois State, Toledo). Notre Dame is 9-0 versus those schools, including a 2-0 mark against both Illinois and Indiana. The Irish are 1-0 against BIG EAST-foe Georgetown and will be facing fellow conference members Rutgers and St. John’s for the first time this season.
LAST TIME OUT: Notre Dame played three quality rounds of golf, including a second round 296 (+13), at the Lady Northern Invitational at the Indiana University Golf Course (Sept. 24-25). The Fighting Irish finished with a 39-over par 903 (303-296-304) total to place fourth overall against a very competitive field. Junior Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) continued her sizzling play as she carded a Notre Dame record one-under par 215 (70-74-71) to place third out of the 77-golfer field. Gebauer, a senior, produced another nice effort with a six-over par 222 (75-73-74), which placed her 11th overall.
NOTRE DAME LINEUP: Once again, Nakazaki will play from the top spot in the Notre Dame lineup. She leads the Irish with a season-stroke average of 73.00. Her career average of 76.17 is first all-time in Notre Dame history. The junior has two top-three finishes on her resume so far this season. Prior to placing third at the Lady Northern, she was co-medalist at the season-opening Notre Dame Invitational (Sept. 10-11). Gebauer, who is second on the team with a 76.50 average, will look to keep her solid play going from the No. 2 spot in the Notre Dame lineup. Brophy, an Irish mainstay, will tee it up from the third spot in the lineup. The senior’s season average of 77.83 places her third on the squad, while she is tied with Nakazaki for rounds counted towards the team score as they each have six apiece.
Freshman Lisa Maunu (St. Thomas, Ontario/Parkside Collegiate Institute) qualified for her second straight opportunity to play in the Fighting Irish lineup. She possesses a 79.00 average on the year. Completing the field for Notre Dame will be sophomore Jane Lee (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula). Lee has been in the Irish lineup in every event so far this season. The sophomore enters the Shoot-Out with a 79.33 stroke average.
IRISH THOUGHTS: Notre Dame head coach Debby King and senior Lauren Gebauer share their thoughts on the Shoot-Out at The Legends and how the season is going …
Debby King – head coach …
On the tournament field … “We are the third highest ranked team in the field entering the tournament. I think our toughest competition is going to be Missouri, they are 16th in the country. Kent State will also be tough as they are 35th. It’s going to be good for us to see Louisville, a new BIG EAST team. They are very competitive. They’ve broke 300 several times already this year, so that’ll be a good match-up for us.”
On how the team has been playing … “The team is really going strong. Katie (Brophy) is starting to bounce back. We had some pretty good scores at the Lady Northern, almost without her because she’s been having some back problems. But she’s starting to feel better. And Jane (Lee) is coming along too, she’s right in the mix. Our freshman Lisa (Maunu) is starting to come around too. So I’m really excited to see what we can do down there.”
On the hot play of junior Noriko Nakazaki … “I’ve just been sitting back and waiting for this. I’ve been waiting for her to finally come through. She’s always been a talented player, just lacking a little bit of confidence in herself. Now her confidence has caught up to her talent and when you have talent and confidence working for you, it’s tough to stop. She also changed her putting stroke this summer and it’s working very well. She’s making a lot more birdies than she ever used to.”
Lauren Gebauer – senior …
On where the team is at as they approach the midway point of the fall season … “I feel that we started out slow at our home tournament so we had to reevaluate where we wanted to go as a team. We changed our goals so we can get to where we want to be in the spring. We feel like the Lady Northern was a step in the right direction and we’d like to see a win this week (at the Shoot-Out).”
On the Shoot-Out at The Legends … I feel like we can definitely carry over what we did at the Lady Northern into this week. I think we played pretty well there and if we can do well and win this week then we can move up in the rankings. It’s kind of like a snowball effect and we just want to keep it going. We’re looking forward to playing there. I think Lisa (Maunu) is the only one of us who has never played there. We definitely like the course. It’s pretty open and pretty short.”
On her play so far this season … “I’ve just been trying to work hard and improve in practice. I’ve also tried to have a different mindset. This is my last chance to play at Notre Dame so I just want to take the pressure off myself and just go out there and play and try to help my team.”
RESULTS: Daily results will be posted on iuhoosiers.com.
NEXT UP: The Fighting Irish will travel to Fayetteville, Ark. for the Lady Razorback Invitational at the Pinnacle Country Club on Oct. 16-18.
Stay up-to-date on the Notre Dame women’s golf team by logging on to und.com or by calling the Notre Dame Athletics Hotline at (574) 631-3000.
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