Oct. 20, 2005
By Sean Carroll
When Debby King took over as the head women’s golf coach at Notre Dame in 2001 she focused on a five-year plan that would have the Irish in their first NCAA tournament and among the top-tier teams in the nation. To some that may have seemed far-fetched since King was the first full-time head coach in the history of the Irish women’s golf program. But to King, the opportunity was a gold mine. By using her focus and determination that has bred success throughout her coaching career, she has taken the program to unprecedented heights.
In the spring of 2004, the Fighting Irish teed it up at the NCAA Central Regional, which meant King had accomplished one of her major goals just three years into her tenure and two years ahead of schedule. With the success, the coach and the team had to change their mindset and rearrange their goals. Gone were the days of just being happy to play at the collegiate level. Winning was now the expectation of everyone.
“Before I came here, they did not have scheduled practices,” says King.
“It was kind of just practice at your leisure. When I came, I started practicing them about 12 hours a week and then it went to 15 and now we are at the full 20 hours that the NCAA allows.”
As the Irish entered the 2004-05 season, King and her squad expected a return trip to the NCAA tournament. That was a monumental moment in itself, as the team with no expectations just a few years earlier, now expected to make the national tournament.
Notre Dame rose to those expectations in the `04 fall campaign as the team posted arguably the biggest victory in the history of the program at Texas Tech’s Jeannine McHaney Invitational, which also served as the Central Regional Preview. The tournament featured several quality teams from the region and the Irish proved they belonged by not only winning the team title, but also the individual crown when then-junior Katie Brophy, won the tournament
Along with the recent accomplishments, which included back-to-back BIG EAST titles in 2003 and `04, came some confidence for the Irish and they knew something special was occurring throughout the program.
“When I first got here we were just hoping to survive when we went to a tournament,” says Brophy, who is now a senior co-captain.
“Now we expect to win and if we don’t we are disappointed. It’s a completely different mindset.”
That mindset led Notre Dame back to the NCAA tournament for the second straight season. In their second trip, the Irish finished 18 strokes better than their inaugural appearance, yet an 18th-place finish is not what the team had in mind, but it was still a step in the right direction for the future. King now has her sights on taking the next step.
“I’m hoping that within the next three years that we can get to finals of the NCAAs,” says King, who took the University of Memphis to three NCAA tournaments from 1995-2001.
The future does seem bright for Notre Dame as the school just broke ground on the new $2.1 million dollar Robert and Marilyn Rolfs Family All-Season Golf Facility. The new building will be located on the grounds of the University’s Warren Golf Course near campus and is set to open in October of 2006. The facility will be a terrific compliment to the golf course that was recently ranked as the 15th-best collegiate course by Golf Digest.
“I think the addition of the new facility will be the biggest impact of all for our program,” King states.
“It will allow us to work on our short game throughout the winter and that will be huge for us.”
Another major impact to the team’s success and optimistic outlook can be traced to the program being fully funded by the University. The women’s golf program now has their full allotment of scholarship money, which allows King to recruit at the highest level.
“Being able to recruit highly-competitive players with our program being fully-funded with scholarships has been very important,” says King.
“It’s just been an overall commitment from the University to our program.”
With all of the changes surrounding the golf program these days, from the attitude of the team to the new practice facility, maybe the most impressive change is occurring in the Irish record books. King’s teams have completely overhauled the Notre Dame records since she took over the reigns. Many of those marks belong to Brophy and junior standout Noriko Nakazaki. The duo entered the 2005 fall season as the top two career-stroke average leaders in Fighting Irish history.
Nakazaki, a native of Hanover Park, Ill., posted 76.44 average during her first two years on campus to currently rank first on the career average list. Brophy, who hails from Spokane, Wash., is not far behind with a three-year mark of 77.49 to go along with a school-record three medalist finishes.
The student-athletes attribute a lot of their good fortune on the golf course to the encouragement that the team gives to each other.
“Our team gets along really well,” Brophy says.
“We all encourage each other. We used to be more excited if we did well as an individual instead of focusing more on the team. Now we look past our own success and hope to play well as a team.”
For many, a round of golf is like a roller coaster ride with many ups and downs. That can also be said about the entire Notre Dame program over the last four years. While many things have gone well for the Irish, not every day has been a round under par and that is not lost on King and her student-athletes.
“One of Coach King’s guidelines that she gives to us is that you aren’t the score that you shoot,” says Nakazaki.
“That means that even if you have a bad day she isn’t going to change the way she treats you. For me that is important and encouraging because everyone has bad days on the course.”
At the rate the program is headed, those bad days seem to be few and far between. With two trips to the NCAAs and two conference championships already under her belt at Notre Dame, King and the Irish are poised to keep the ball sailing down the fairway and away from the hazards.