April 2, 2016
By Chris Masters
BROWNS SUMMIT, N.C. – While the University of Notre Dame campus was dealing with gusty winds and even the occasional snow flurry on Saturday, it was the gales on Tobacco Road that blew hard in the face of the Fighting Irish women’s golf team.
Playing in sustained winds upwards of 25 miles per hour (and gusts approaching 35 miles per hour), Notre Dame fought to remain on target in the second round of the Bryan National Collegiate, moving to sixth place in the 15-team event at 24-over par 600 (297-303) on the Bryan Park Champions Course (par 72/6,386 yards) in Browns Summit, North Carolina (just outside Greensboro).
The Fighting Irish now find themselves 16 strokes back of overnight leader (and fellow Atlantic Coast Conference member) Virginia (584/+8), with two other ACC teams hot on the Cavaliers’ heels – Florida State (589/+13) and tournament co-host Wake Forest (595/+19).
At the same time, Notre Dame is ahead of five other Golfstat Top 50 teams in the current tournament standings, including No. 28 East Carolina, No. 31 North Carolina State and No. 37 Miami.
Senior captain Talia Campbell leads three Notre Dame golfers among the top 20 after two rounds of the Bryan National Collegiate, currently tying for 15th place at 149 (+5).
“It was very windy today and with our later tee time, we got the worst of it, especially over the last nine holes,” Fighting Irish head coach Susan Holt said. “We had some players that didn’t start well, others had bad stretches in the middle of the round, and some didn’t finish well. Putting was a real challenge with the wind as well.
“We just need to manage it all better tomorrow because the wind is going blow again,” Holt added. “We can certainly make up some ground by playing more consistently and avoiding big numbers.”
Senior captain Talia Campbell (Dallas, Texas/Ursuline Academy) leads a trio of Notre Dame players in the top 20, currently tying for 15th place at five-over par 149 (74-75). Campbell opened with a double bogey, but steadied over the next 15 holes, playing them at even par, before a bogey on No. 17 dropped her out of the top 10.
Campbell presently is seven shots back of individual leader Matilda Castren of Florida State at the front of a 94-player field that saw only three golfers break par on Saturday. In fact, through 36 holes, no player at this year’s Bryan National Collegiate has broken 70 on the Bryan Park Champions Course.
Freshman Isabella DiLisio (Hatfield, Pa./Mount Saint Joseph Academy) and junior Jordan Ferreira (University Place, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) began the day tied and that’s exactly where they finished, sharing 19th place at six-over par 150, with both players shooting rounds of 73 and 77.
DiLisio’s round started much like Campbell, offsetting a double bogey on No. 1 with level-par golf for the next 12 holes. However, the Fighting Irish rookie closed with bogeys on three of her last five holes to drop back in the field.
Ferreira started well, playing even through the first five holes. Yet, she had four consecutive bogeys to close the front nine, and two more early on the back side before a birdie on No. 17 helped bring her back into a tie with her teammate.
Freshman Maddie Rose Hamilton (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy) is tied for 35th place at eight-over par 152 (77-75). She also started Saturday’s second round in strong form, making the turn at one-under par following birdies on Nos. 7-8. That’s when the winds on the back side of the course bared their teeth, as Hamilton carded four bogeys coming home.
Like her teammates, freshman Emma Albrecht (Ormond Beach, Fla./Father Lopez) had an up-and-down performance on Saturday, scattering a handful of bogeys with a birdies on No. 17 to move into a 46th-place tie at 10-over par 154 (78-76).
Notre Dame will wrap up play at the Bryan National Collegiate at 8:30 a.m. (ET) Sunday with the final round teeing off with a shotgun start. Live scoring will be available through the Golfstat web site (Golfstat.com).
For more information on the Notre Dame women’s golf program, visit the women’s golf page of the official Fighting Irish athletics web site (UND.com/ndwomensgolf), sign up to follow the Notre Dame women’s golf Twitter feed (@NDwomensGolf) or register for the Irish ALERT text-messaging system through the “Fan Center” pulldown menu on the front page at UND.com.
Bryan National Collegiate
April 1-3, 2016
Bryan Park ââ’¬” Champions Course (par 72/6,386 yards)
Browns Summit, North Carolina
TEAM SCORES (36-hole totals): 1. Virginia 584 (289-295); 2. Florida State 589 (299-290); 3. Wake Forest 595 (298-297); 4. South Carolina 596 (297-299); 5. Kentucky 599 (306-293); 6. NOTRE DAME 600 (297-303); 7. East Carolina 602 (299-303); 8. Miami 604 (298-306); 9. North Carolina 606 (302-304); 10. North Carolina State 607 (304-303); 11. UCF 616 (315-301); 12. Michigan 618 (314-304); 13. Cal State Fullerton 619 (307-312); 14. Penn State 634 (319-315); 15. UNC Greensboro 643 (326-317).
TOP EIGHT INDIVIDUALS PLUS NOTRE DAME GOLFERS (of 94): 1. Matilda Castren (FSU) 142 (71-71); 2. (tie) Lauren Coughlin (UVA) 144 (72-72) and Sarah Schmelzel (USC) 144 (73-71); 4. Jennifer Kupcho (WF) 145 (72-73); 5. (tie) Leslie Cloots (UNC) 146 (73-73) and Elizabeth Szokol (UVA) 146 (71-75); 7. (tie) Lexi Harkins (UNC) 147 (75-72) and Lauren Diaz-Yi (UVA) 147 (73-74); 15. (tie) Talia Campbell (ND) 149 (74-75); 19. (tie) Isabella DiLisio (ND) 150 (73-77) and Jordan Ferreira (ND) 150 (73-77); 35. (tie) Maddie Rose Hamilton (ND) 152 (77-75); 46. (tie) Emma Albrecht (ND) 154 (78-76).
— ND —
Chris Masters, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2001 and coordinates all media efforts for the Notre Dame women’s golf and women’s basketball programs. A native of San Francisco, California, Masters is a 1996 graduate of Ohio Wesleyan University, earned his master’s degree from Kansas State University in 1998, and currently serves on the Board of Directors for the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA).