Oct. 29, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The fall season has already been successful for the Notre Dame women’s golf team and the Irish will look to keep the momentum going as they take to the Anthem Country Club for the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown Monday, Oct. 31 thru Tuesday, Nov. 2. Several of the Fighting Irish golfers have already established personal-best scores during the fall season and more solid efforts will be needed as the team will tee it up against a very strong field out in Las Vegas.
TOURNAMENT FORMAT: Each of the three days will feature 18 holes of play. The tournament will be a play five, score four format.
FIELD: To say this field is strong is an understatement. Six of the 16 teams are ranked in the top 25 of the golfstat.com poll, including three of the top five teams. No. 3 UCLA, No. 4 Pepperdine and No. 5 Arkansas headline the field. UNLV is 13th in the rankings, while Pac-10 schools Arizona and Oregon are ranked 20th and 25th, respectively.
Five teams in the field rank between 29th and 35th in the golfstat rankings (BYU 29, SMU 31, Kent State 32, Missouri 33, Notre Dame 35). Rounding out the field is UC-Irvine (46), TCU (49), Colorado State (63), Oklahoma (73) and Eastern Washington (144).
The Irish have faced three of the teams in the field so far this season, Arkansas, Kent State and Missouri. Notre Dame is 0-1 against all three of those schools.
LAST TIME OUT: The Fighting Irish placed second at the Lady Razorback Invitational in Rogers, Ark. (Oct. 16-18). Notre Dame carded a three-round total of 896 (299-303-294) at the par 72 Pinnacle Country Club. The 16-team field was led by Arkansas’ 12-over par 876. Arkansas was ranked third nationally at the time of the tournament.
Senior Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) posted a team-best score of 222 (+6) with rounds of 71-77-74 to place eighth. Junior Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) was one shot behind Brophy with a 223 (75-73-75) to place ninth out of the 90-golfer field.
Sophomore Jane Lee (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula) shot a 10-over par 226 (75-76-75) to place in a tie for 14th, while senior Lauren Gebauer (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington) finished 13 shots over par with a 229 (78-81-70). Her third round score of 70 (-2) was a collegiate career-best total for the senior.
Freshman Lisa Maunu (St. Thomas, Ontario/Parkside Collegiate Institute) posted a 16-over par 232 (80-77-75) and senior Suzie Hayes (Dublin, Ireland/Loreto College) shot a 27-over 243 (81-79-83), while playing as an individual entrant.
NOTRE DAME LINEUP: Notre Dame will send out the same lineup that has competed in most of the events so far this season. Brophy will play from the No. 1 spot in the Fighting Irish lineup. She has led the team in the past two tournaments and is second on the team with a 75.75 stroke average. Brophy is the only Notre Dame golfer to have all 12 of her rounds count towards the team score so far this season. She carded a career-best 54-hole total of 220 (+4) earlier this season at the Shoot-Out at The Legends (Oct. 10-11).
Nakazaki occupies the No. 2 in the Irish lineup. The junior leads the team with a 74.17 scoring average in 12 rounds of play, with 11 counting towards the team score. She posted a school-record 54-hole total of 215 (-1) at the Lady Northern Invitational. Her career average of 76.11 is first all-time in program history.
Lee will tee it up from the third position for the Irish. The sophomore is fourth on the team with a 76.92 average with nine of her 12 rounds going towards the team score. Her tournament score of 221 (+5) at the Shoot-Out at the Legends (Oct. 10-11) was a personal collegiate-best. Playing from the fourth position is Gebauer, who has already established personal-best scores for a single round (70) and a 54-hole tournament (222) this season. She ranks third on the team with a 76.33 scoring average, which is nearly three shots lower than her current career average.
Maunu will look to continue her solid play from the fifth spot. This will mark the freshman’s fourth appearance in the Fighting Irish lineup so far this season. She is currently fifth on the squad with a 77.83 stroke-average in 12 rounds of play.
IRISH THOUGHTS: Notre Dame head coach Debby King breaks down the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown …
On the tournament being so strong … “I think this is by far the best tournament that we’ve played in since (NCAA) regionals. We go into this tournament ranked 12th out of the field but I’d like to see us have a top-five finish. BYU, Arizona, Oregon and SMU are all ranked ahead of us but we think that we can pass them. We’d also like to get revenge on Missouri since they beat us by one stroke at the Legends.”
On the impact of playing in such a quality tournament … “One of the best ways to move up in the rankings is to beat opponents that are ranked ahead of you. It doesn’t do much for you to play in smaller tournaments and beat up on those teams even if you have a lower scoring average. If we can beat half or three-quarters of the teams ranked ahead of us in this tournament, that’ll really move us up.”
On the golf course … “We don’t have any familiarity with the course. I’ve heard it’s a very private course and that it’s in great shape. I guess it has periodic water hazards. It’s very important for us to have the practice round so we can get a look at it.”
RESULTS: Live results will be available through golfstat.com
NEXT UP: Notre Dame will conclude the fall season with a trip to the Lady Jaguar Invitational at the Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Ga. The tournament will be played Monday, Nov. 7 and Tuesday, Nov. 8.
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.
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