Oct. 23, 2015
by Chris Masters
WILMINGTON, N.C. — Unlike its professional counterpart, college golf is a team sport, although some days, a good round by one or two players can do enough to carry an entire team up the leaderboard.
That proved to be the case for the University of Notre Dame women’s golf team on Friday, as freshman Isabella DiLisio (Hatfield, Pa./Mount Saint Joseph Academy) fired a blistering five-under par 67 and senior captain Talia Campbell (Dallas, Texas/Ursuline Academy) added an even-par 72 to help the Fighting Irish into a tie for fourth place after the first round of the Landfall Tradition, which is being played on the Pete Dye Course (par 72/6,157 yards) at the Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington, North Carolina.
As a team, Notre Dame posted a score of 291 (+3), four strokes back of second-ranked Duke in a high-powered 18-team field that features 12 teams in the Golfstat Top 50, including five in the top 20. Friday also marked the fourth consecutive round in which the Fighting Irish shot 292 or lower at the Landfall Tradition — last year, Notre Dame tied for third place at 871 (290-292-289).
“Today was a good start,” Fighting Irish head coach Susan Holt said. “You can’t win the tournament on the first day, but you can definitely lose it. We are in the hunt with two rounds left and that’s always the goal. I’m looking forward to the next two days. We need to get lower scores across the board from everyone and I’m confident the team will rise to the challenge.”
DiLisio grabbed the individual lead after Friday’s first round, carding six birdies and winding up only one shot off Notre Dame’s single-round record, a mark she herself tied on Oct. 5 in the second round of Nebraska’s Chip-N Club Invitational. DiLisio is one shot ahead of Duke’s Sandy Choi on a tightly-packed leaderboard that has 20 players within five strokes of the top spot.
“Isabella was really on today,” Holt said. “It was a really solid ball-striking day for her and she made her putts for birdie.”
Campbell was positioned to join her teammate near the front of the pack after making the turn at two-under, but a stretch of four bogeys in a five-hole span midway through the back nine blunted her momentum. However, like the veteran she is, Campbell showed tremendous poise and closed with a pair of birdies to get back to level par and a tie for 13th place.
“Talia also played a solid round overall,” Holt said. “She had a few putts that didn’t drop, but she’s hitting it well and will have plenty of opportunities the next two rounds.”
Freshman Emma Albrecht (Ormond Beach, Fla./Father Lopez) is tied for 36th place after posting a three-over par 75 on Friday. It was a bookend afternoon for the Fighting Irish rookie, who stumbled early and late in the round with two bogeys each on her first four and final three holes. In between, Albrecht steadied herself and reeled off 10 pars and a birdie on No. 16 (her seventh hole of the round).
Freshman Maddie Rose Hamilton (Louisville, Ky./Sacred Heart Academy) and sophomore Kari Bellville (Granger, Ind./Penn) are part of a group tied for 53rd place at five-over par 77. Hamilton made the turn at even-par, but double bogeys on No. 2 (her 11th hole) and No. 9 (her final hole) set her back. Meanwhile, Bellville is playing as an individual participant this weekend and got off to a rough start with five bogeys on the front side, but her back nine was much smoother as she registered eight pars coming home.
Junior Jordan Ferreira (University Place, Wash./Bellarmine Prep) is tied for 62nd place after opening with a six-over par 78 on Friday. Like Hamilton, Ferreira had a largely steady effort, but double bogeys on the first and 10th holes proved a difficult mountain to climb as the round progressed.
Notre Dame continues play at the Landfall Tradition with second-round action beginning at 8:30 a.m. (ET) Saturday. 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 on 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.
Landfall Tradition
Oct. 23-25, 2015
Country Club of Landfall — Pete Dye Course (par 72/6,157 yards)
Wilmington, North Carolina
TEAM SCORES (18-hole totals): 1. Duke 287; 2. Oklahoma State 289; 3. UNC Wilmington 290; 4. (tie) NOTRE DAME 291 and Michigan State 291; 6. North Carolina State 295; 7. Purdue 296; 8. Clemson 298; 9. Alabama 299; 10. (tie) Virginia 301 and South Carolina 301; 12. (tie) Wake Forest 303, Ohio State 303 and Elon 303; 15. Penn State 305; 16. Kentucky 307; 17. (tie) UCF 308 and North Carolina 308.
TOP 12 INDIVIDUALS PLUS NOTRE DAME GOLFERS (of 96): 1. Isabella DiLisio (ND) 67; 2. Sandy Choi (DU) 68; 3. Annette Lyche (UNCW) 69; 4. (tie) Gabby Yurik (MSU) 70, Laura Kowohl (NCST) 70, Anna Appert Lund (PU) 70 and Maddie McCrary (OKST) 70; 8. (tie) Alice Hewson (CU) 71, Sarah Burnham (MSU) 71, Sarah Schmelzel (USC) 71, Lauren Coughlin (UVA) 71 and Leona Maguire (DU) 71; 13. (tie) Talia Campbell (ND) 72; 36. (tie) Emma Albrecht (ND) 75; 53. (tie) Maddie Rose Hamilton (ND) 77 and Kari Bellville (ND)* 77; 62. (tie) Jordan Ferreira (ND) 78.
* – competing as individual participant
— 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).