Oct. 14, 2000
NOTRE DAME, Ind.– The Notre Dame womens golf team-led by freshman Rebecca Rogers and junior Kristin McMurtrie-surged to a 24-stroke lead in first-day action at the Notre Dame Invitational, which is being held at the newly-opened Warren Golf Course.
Notre Dame posted a 304 opening round in the play-six, count-four format before turning in a 319 in the afternoon round, yielding the large margin over second-place Xavier (321-326/647) heading into Sundays final round. Three other teams are within three strokes of second place, including Northern Illinois (320-328/648), Illinois State (324-325/649) and Princeton (326-324/650).
Rogers sits atop the 66-player leaderboard after posting rounds of 70-81 (151) on the par-72, 5,955-yard layout. McMurtrie (77-78/155) turned in a pair of solid rounds to earn sole possession of second place, with other top individuals including ISUs Nicole Foy (75-81/156) and Princeton teammates Julia Allison (81-76/157) and Allison Beam (78-79/157).
The event is the first womens golf intercollegiate tournament at Notre Dame since the spring of 1994, when the Irish played host to an invitational at Memorial Golf Course (which since has been converted to a nine-hole course). Warren Golf Course-which opened in the spring of 2000-also was the site of the BIG EAST Mens Golf Championship last April.
Notre Dame senior captain Shane Smith owns a share of sixth after matching 79s while sophomore Terri Taibl (78-82/160) counted to the team score in the opening round. Freshman Shannon Byrne (83-81/164) counted to the second-round team total while her classmate Jeanne Murphy (87-91/178) rounded out the Irish contingent.
Seven other Notre Dame golfers also competed as individual entrants: sophomore Priscilla Ro (83-78/161), senior Danielle Villarosa (82-80/162), sophomore Shelby Strong (86-79/165), junior Lauren Fuchs (77-90/167), sophomores Nina Siggins (93-82/175) and Michelle Halverson (85-92) and junior Jenny Lynch (87-92/179).