Irish Ready To Open Spring Season At The Central District Classic

Feb. 19, 2006

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team will head to Parrish, Fla. to open the spring portion of their 2005-06 schedule. The Fighting Irish will take to the par 72, 6,099-yard River Wilderness Golf Club for the Central District Classic on Feb. 20 and 21. This will mark the second consecutive year that the Irish will have played in the tournament, which is hosted by Michigan State. The Irish placed 13th out of a field of 15 one year ago.

The Irish are coming off a fall season that saw them place in the top-four in five of their six tournaments. Fifth-year head coach Debby King once again led the squad to a program-record semester scoring average of 301.71. Junior standout Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) paced the Irish with a 74.18 stroke-average as she played in all 17 rounds of competition, with 16 of those counting towards the team score. Senior co-captain Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) had all 17 of her rounds scored and posted an overall scoring average of 76.00, which placed her second on the team.

Notre Dame began last year’s spring season off on the wrong foot with a disappointing showing at the Central District Classic as they fired a three-round total of 939 (+75). The Irish traveled down to Florida a couple days in advance of the tournament this year in hopes of working on their complete game prior to teeing it up on Monday.

TOURNAMENT FORMAT: The first day of action on Monday will feature two rounds of play, while the tournament will conclude with the third on final round on Tuesday. Play begins with a shotgun start at 8:00 a.m. (ET) both days.

FIELD: This event boasts several quality teams from the central region. Michigan State serves as the host of the tournament, which has a total of four Big Ten teams. The Irish faced nine of the 13 squads during the 2005 fall season, compiling a record of 8-5. Here is a breakdown of how the Irish fared against the field:

Baylor – did not play
Illinois State – 2-1
Kansas – 1-0
Kansas State – 1-0
LSU – did not play
Michigan – 2-0
Michigan State – 0-1
Missouri – 0-2
Nebraska – 1-0
Northwestern – 1-0
Ohio State – did not play
SMU – 0-1
Texas Tech – did not play

NOTRE DAME LINEUP: Notre Dame will send out a battle-tested lineup of Noriko Nakazaki, Lisa Maunu, Katie Brophy, Lauren Gebauer and Suzie Hayes.

Nakazaki will once again play from the No. 1 position for the Irish. She led the team with a 74.18 stroke-average during the first half of the season to lower her career average to a school-record mark of 76.00. She also captured Notre Dame’s only medalist finish of the fall as she tied for first at the season-opening Notre Dame Invitational.

Maunu, a freshman, fills the No. 2 spot for the second time in her brief career. She competed in all eight fall tournaments and registered a 78.47 scoring average. Brophy, who will play from the third position, was second on the team with a 76.00 average in the fall, while Gebauer was fourth with a 76.82 mark as they both played in every event. Hayes will take to the course from the fifth spot. The senior co-captain played in three fall tournaments, recording an 80.67 stroke average.

LAST TIME OUT: The Fighting Irish ended the 2005 fall season with a second-place finish at the Lady Jaguar Invitational in Augusta, Ga. Nakazaki paced the team with a three-over par 147 (74-73) for the two rounds of play.

Maunu posted her top round of the fall semester with a one-over par 73 in her final round of play at the Lady Jaguar en route to placing in a tie for eighth, which matched her top finish of the season.

IRISH THOUGHTS: Notre Dame head coach Debby King breaks down the Central District Classic …

On the team heading into the first tournament of the spring … “I’m hoping that we have a hunger to compete since it’s been awhile since we’ve been on the course. I hope we have a sense of excitement instead of fear.”

“It’s really an honor to be invited to this tournament for the second year in-a-row because only the top teams from the central region get to go. Missouri has beaten us the last couple of times by one shot, so we’d like to get them.”

“It’s a good tournament to try and beat other teams from the central region in order to move up in the rankings and get back to NCAAs.”

On her expectations of the team … “I think we are going to have to shoot for scoring average instead of place since it’s anybody’s game and you don’t know what is going to happen. We’d like to break 300 at least two of the three rounds and see where that lands us.”

“We just want to get out there and play. We can do almost everything here on campus during the winter in the Loftus Center except actually play. We can hit, pitch, putt and even do some bunker work but we can’t play. Once we get to Florida we aren’t going to the driving range or the practice green, we’re going right for the course and play.”

RESULTS: Live scoring of the event will be available through golfstat.com.

NEXT UP: The Fighting Irish will have a few weeks off before heading to the Mo Morial tournament in Bryan, Texas. The event, which is hosted by Texas A&M University, will be held March 10-12 at The Traditions Club.

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–