Oct. 3, 2004
Notre Dame, Ind. – Coming off a victory at the Central Regional Preview on Sept. 26, the Notre Dame women’s golf team will travel to Franklin, Ind. to take part in the Shootout at the Legends tournament on Monday, Oct. 4 and Tuesday, Oct. 5. The Irish hope to continue their solid play at the 54-hole event, which will take place at the par 72, 6,207-yard Legends Golf Course. Two rounds will take place on Monday with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. (CT) and the final round will get underway on Tuesday with a double tee start at 8 a.m.
Notre Dame fired a 17-over par two round total of 593 to capture the Jeannine McHaney Invitational/Central Regional Preview by four strokes over Oklahoma. The Irish, who qualified for the program’s first-ever NCAA appearance last spring, were making their inaugural trip to a regional preview. The invitational was shortened to 36-holes due to inclement weather that forced the cancellation of the second round on Saturday, Sept. 25.
Katie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) had an outstanding tournament for the Irish as she defeated a very strong field to win the individual championship to complete the Notre Dame sweep. The junior co-captain carded a three-under par 141 to collect her school-record third career tournament victory. Sophomore Noriko Nakazaki (Hanover Park, Ill./Hoffman Estates) was also a top-10 finisher for the Irish as she fired a five-over par 149 to place in a four-way tie for 10th. Stacy Brown (The Woodlands, Texas/The Woodlands), a sophomore, finished one-stroke in back of Nakazaki, which put her in a three-way tie for 14th.
Joining that trio of Irish golfers at the Shootout will be Lauren Gebauer (Columbus, Ohio/Upper Arlington), Jane Lee (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif./Peninsula), and Suzie Hayes (Dublin, Ireland/Loreto College). The freshman Lee and Gebauer, a junior, played very well last weekend to maintain the team’s consistency en route to the invitational title. Hayes, a junior co-captain, will be taking part in her second tournament of the season. She carded an 18-over par 234 at the Notre Dame Invitational back on Sept. 4 and 5.
The Shootout at the Legends will be a play six, score four format. Last year at the Legends Notre Dame placed seventh out of the 18-team field. As a freshman, Nakazaki led the Irish with a seventh-place finish as she fired two-over par 218 for the three rounds of play at the 2003 tournament. Brophy finished three shots in back of Nakazaki in a tie for 15th out of the 93-golfer field. Hayes and Gebauer will also be bringing experience at the Legends Golf Course to the team as they both competed last year and Gebauer was a member of the 2002 field as well.
Six members of the Big Ten Conference will be among the 12-team competing during the 54-hole tournament. The Irish have gone up against several of the teams already during this 2004 fall campaign. Michigan captured the Lady Northern Invitational on Sept. 12, while the Irish placed in a tie for eighth along with Northwestern, who will also be competing at the Legends. Kent State placed sixth at the Lady Northern and will return to face-off against many of those same teams again this week.
Live scoring of the tournament will be available on www.golfstatresults.com and daily results will be posted on the official Indiana Univerisity Athletic Department web site at www.iuhoosiers.com. For additional information please log on to www.und.com or call the Notre Dame athletics hotline at (574) 631-3000.
2004 Shootout at the Legends Women’s Field: Campbell, Eastern Michigan, Illinois, Illinois State, Indiana, Kent State, Michigan, Minnesota, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Toledo, Wisconsin.
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