Nov. 6, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team will close out the 2005 fall season with a trip to Augusta, Ga. for the Lady Jaguar Invitational on Monday, Nov. 7 and Tuesday, Nov. 8. A field of 13 teams will take to the par 72, 5,954-yard Forest Hills Golf Club for 36 holes of play. The Fighting Irish carry a 300.80 team stroke average into play, a mark that is six shots better than the program record for an entire season.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT: Each day will feature 18 holes of play with a play five, score four format. Augusta State University is the host school of the tournament. This will be Notre Dame’s first 36-hole tournament of the season.
FIELD: The Irish are coming off a tournament in which six of the teams appeared in the top 25 of the golfstat.com rankings. The field at the Lady Jaguar Invitational does not quite stack up to the competition Notre Dame encountered at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown. However, the Irish will still have to go out at battle in hopes to end the fall season on a positive note.
Notre Dame headlines the field in the golfstat.com rankings as the Irish are 35th overall. The host school Augusta State is 58th and Florida State is 60th. Other teams in the top 100 are Western Carolina (84th) and Richmond (85th).
The field also includes Arkansas State, Birmingham Southern, East Tennessee State, Elon, Florida International, Jacksonville State, James Madison and Wyoming. Notre Dame has only faced one of these schools already this season. The Irish finished 19 shots better than Augusta State at the Tyson/Embassy Suites Invitational (Oct. 16-18).
LAST TIME OUT: The Irish played well against a solid tournament field at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown (Oct. 31-Nov. 2). Notre Dame placed 10th amongst the 16-team field, which featured three of the top five teams in the nation according to golfstat.com. The Fighting Irish carded a three-round total of 894 (299-295-300). That marked the second tournament of the season in which the Irish posted all three rounds at or under 300.
Sophomore Jane Lee (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula) led the Irish for the first time in her career as she carded a collegiate career-best one-over par 217 (74-73-70) to place in a tie for 16th. Her third round score of 70 is also a career-best. Junior Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) finished in a tie for 38th as she posted an eight-over par 224 (72-75-77).
Senior co-captain Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) played another consistent tournament with a 10-over par 226 (75-75-76) and her classmate Lauren Gebauer (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) was one shot behind Brophy with a 227 (78-72-77). Freshman Lisa Maunu (St. Thomas, Ontario/Collegiate Park Institute) carded a 245 (82-80-83) as she continues to gain experience in the Irish lineup.
NOTRE DAME LINEUP: Notre Dame will send out the lineup that has played together in all but one tournament this fall. Playing from the No. 1 spot for the first time in her Notre Dame career will be Lee, who is coming off a career-best tournament in Las Vegas. Lee is third on the team with a 76.00 stroke-average. Nakazaki will occupy the second spot. She leads the squad with a 74.27 average. Brophy will take her 75.67 average, which ranks her second behind Nakazaki, and tee it up from the No. 3 position. Gebauer has a 76.20 average and will play from the fourth spot. All four of those marks are below their respective career averages. Maunu, who has a 78.60 average over her first five collegiate events, is fifth in the Notre Dame lineup.
IRISH THOUGHTS: Notre Dame head coach Debby King talks about the Lady Jaguar Invitational and her team’s play as the fall season wraps up …
On the tournament … “We are going into this tournament as the highest ranked team and that is probably a good thing. Our last tournament was a long week in Las Vegas and our team is running on fumes. Augusta State will be tough on their home course. From what I’ve heard the course is pretty good but I’ve never played there.”
On how the team is playing … “I am so impressed with how each of them are taking turns stepping it up. If you look at our average the past couple of years, you’ll notice a big improvement.”
RESULTS: Live results of the Lady Jaguar Invitational will be available through golfstat.com
NEXT UP: Notre Dame will open the spring slate at the Central District Classic in Parrish, Fla. on February 19, 2006.
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.
–ND–