May 9, 2009

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The Notre Dame women’s golf team combined to shoot a 338 in the final round of the NCAA Central Regional on an extremely windy day that made afternoon scoring very difficult on Ohio State’s Scarlet Course. With the plus-95 mark, the Irish finished in 16th-place to conclude their season. Freshman Becca Huffer (Denver, Colo.) finished tied for 27th.

Huffer shot a plus-nine 81 on the final day of play on the Jack Nicklaus designed Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio. She had eight pars on day three and added a birdie at the 12th hole. She was 14-strokes over par for the tournament.

Senior Lisa Maunu (St. Thomas, Ontario) closed out her Irish career with a plus-10 82 in round three. She birdied the second and 17th holes and also added six pars. The team captain and 2009 BIG EAST medalist had 97 (of a possible 119) of her rounds counted towards the Notre Dame team score over her four seasons of play.

Sophomore So-Hyun Park (Seoul, South Korea) was Notre Dame’s third scorer of the afternoon with a 15-over par 87. She notched four pars and had a birdie at the seventh hole, which she also birdied during the first round of play.

Juniors Annie Brophy (Spokane, Wash.) and Julie Kim (Bayside, N.Y.) each shot an 88 in round three to complete the Irish scoring. Brophy finished 32-over par for the tournament, while Kim ended with a 46-over par mark at the event. Brophy had five pars on the final day, while Kim was able to notch seven pars.

The Bruins of UCLA captured the Central Regional crown with a +13 mark, 19-strokes better than runner-up Purdue. UCLA and Purdue were two of the top eight teams at the regional, so they advance to the NCAA Finals, taking place on May 19-22 at the Caves Valley Golf Course in Owings Mills, Md. UCLA’s Maria Jose Uribe, captured individual medalist honors with a minus-four mark for the tournament.

The Irish concluded their 2008-09 season with their second consecutive NCAA Central Regional appearance and the fourth NCAA appearance in program history. Their 16th-place finish tied for the best NCAA finish in program history, first done at the 2008 Central Regional.

Central Regional Standings

Top-16 Teams (54-hole scores): 1.    UCLA (877)2.    Purdue (896)3.    Wake Forest (899)4.    Oklahoma State (901)5.    Michigan State (905)6.    New Mexico (912)7.    Ohio State (917)8.    UT Chattanooga (922)9.    Georgia State (926)10.   Washington (927)11.   Louisville (932)12.   Kent State (934)13.   Kentucky (935)14.   Stanford (946)15.   NC State (954)16.Notre Dame (959)
Top-5 Individuals (School/54-hole scores): 1.      Maria Jose Uribe (UCLA/212)2.      Stephanie Kono (UCLA/213)3.      Jodi Ewart (New mexico/215)4.      Maude-Aimee LeBlanc (Purdue/216)5.      Maria Hernandez (Purdue/218)
Notre Dame (54-hole scores): t27.   Becca Huffer (+27/76-73-81-230)t61.   Lisa Maunu (+61/81-75-82-238)t80.   So-Hyun Park (+80/77-79-87-243)t93.   Annie Brophy (+93/82-78-88-248)t104.  Julie Kim (+104/88-86-88-262)

–ND–