ACC Championships
Women's Golf
NCAA Regionals
Sept. 26, 2011
Notre Dame, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf program, in conjunction with Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Ariz., will play host to the 2012 Notre Dame Clover Cup golf tournament from March 15-18, 2012. The 54-hole tournament will feature three rounds from Friday, March 16 to Sunday, March 18.
The 12-team tournament features seven teams that were ranked in the top 50 for the 2010-11 season in both the Golfweek/Sagarin final rankings. The 2012 Clover Cup’s field will include Notre Dame (No. 25), Arizona (No. 9), Iowa State (No. 21), Oklahoma (No. 27), Colorado (No. 36), Minnesota (No. 39), Tulsa (No. 46) and Texas Tech (No. 47). Those eight schools will be joined by Cincinnati, Furman, Southern Methodist, Michigan and Florida International.
“We are very excited about being a part of the Clover Cup tournament,” says Irish head coach Susan Holt. “Serving as hosts of the tournament is a great opportunity for our program. Longbow Golf Club reached out to us last year about being a part of this. It’s a fantastic golf course and gives us an opportunity to compete in that part of the country, early in the spring. The event is over our spring break, so we will have a week of practice.”
Holt adds, “This year’s tournament field is a strong group of teams from all over the country. It gives us an opportunity to face programs that we don’t usually get a chance to play against during the season.”
Located in North Mesa, Longbow Golf Club is just minutes from Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport and Old Town Scottsdale. This is the inaugural season for the Notre Dame Clover Cup tournament and should prove to be a challenging event for the teams participating.
The host course – Longbow Golf Club – has hosted many prestigious local, regional and national tournaments and is the home of the AJGA Winn Grips Heather Farr Classic and has hosted the 2010 NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championship, the 2010 and 2011 WAC Women’s Golf Championship, the Golfweek Junior Series National Qualifying, U.S. Amateur qualifying, Gateway Tour events and many others.
“Longbow Golf Club has made a concerted effort to foster and promote the game of golf through superior maintenance and course conditioning, a variety of instructional programs and development of the game of golf, hosting daily fee play and competitive events at all levels,” says Bob McNichols, developer of Longbow Golf Club.
“From the wide variety of events that we host, Longbow Golf Club is not only the `Essence of Arizona Golf,’ it is fast becoming the host facility of choice for group and competitive events in the State of Arizona. We are proud and excited to participate with the University of Notre Dame and the participating schools in this inaugural and annual invitational tournament,” adds McNichols.
The women will play on a par-72, 6,209-yard layout for the 2012 Clover Cup Tournament that will be a challenge for the participating teams.
“We are very excited to be partnering with Notre Dame in bringing the Clover Cup to Mesa and Longbow Golf Club,” says Jay Larscheid, Director of Golf at Longbow Golf Club. “It’s a great opportunity for us to showcase our facility on a national collegiate level. We are looking forward to the inaugural event and working towards this becoming one of the premier NCAA golf events in the country.”
The Ken Kavanaugh-designed course is constantly rated highly by leading golf writers and publications and has received numerous honors including being ranked among the Top 100 Resort Courses in the Country by Golfweek in 2009 and the Top 20 Best Public Access Courses in Arizona by Golfweek in 2010. Golf Magazine called the Longbow Golf Club one of the Top 25 Courses in Arizona and Golf Digest gave it Four Stars for Places to Play in 2009 and 2010.
“We are extremely excited to be a part of the 1st Annual Clover Cup in Mesa this March,” says Josh Todd of the Mesa Convention and Visitors Bureau (CVB). “The Clover Cup is a great opportunity for schools in cold weather climates to escape to the warmth of Mesa and compete at the beautiful course at Longbow Golf Club. It is the perfect time of year to play golf here. In addition, we are honored to be working with the Notre Dame women’s golf program and know the student-athletes from all participating schools will have a great time and leave Mesa, Ariz., year-after-year with great memories.”
“The Phoenix Regional Sports Commission is proud to partner with Notre Dame, the Mesa CVB and Longbow Golf Club in creating the Clover Cup. Notre Dame’s women’s golf program has great tradition that will help attract the top teams in the country each year,” adds Jon Schmieder, the president of the Phoenix Regional Sports Commission.