Oct. 22, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Warren Golf Course at the University of Notre Dame has been chosen as one of three host sites for regional play in the 2011 NCAA Women’s Golf Championships, it was announced today by the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee. The 54-hole tournament will take place over three days from May 5-7, 2011, with a practice round scheduled for May 4, on the par-70, 6,003-yard layout located on the northeast corner of the Notre Dame campus. It will be the first time the Warren has played host to a women’s NCAA Regional.
“We here at Notre Dame are thrilled to be hosting the 2011 NCAA Central Regional,” women’s golf head coach Susan Holt said. “We were really committed to becoming a host so now we are really excited to be able to showcase the Warren Golf Course. With all my experience in college golf, I can truly say that, even though it is only 10 years old, the Warren Golf Course is one of the best-kept secrets among University owned and run courses. Now, many teams that have not yet had the opportunity to play the Warren will be able to do so.”
In addition to Notre Dame hosting the Central Regional Championship, Stetson University will serve as host of the East Regional Championship at the LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla. and the University of Washington will host the West Regional Championship at the Washington National Golf Club in Seattle, Wash.
The eight lowest scoring teams, as well as the two lowest scoring individuals not on an advancing team, from each of the three regional championships will qualify for the 2011 NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championship. The championship will be held May 17-20 at the Traditions Golf Club in College Station, Texas, with Texas A&M University serving as the host.
Though 2011 will mark the first NCAA women’s regional played in Notre Dame, Ind., The Warren Golf Course is no stranger to championship competition. The Warren has played host to the NCAA men’s golf regional in 2005 and will again serve as a men’s regional site in 2010. Since the course opened on May 1, 2000, it also has played host to four U.S. Amateur Championship qualifiers, three Western Amateur Championship qualifiers and eight BIG EAST Championships (five men, three women). In addition, a handful of junior tour events and other area competitions have been held there.
Designed by the Austin, Texas-based architectural firm of Coore and Crenshaw, headed by Bill Coore and PGA Tour veteran Ben Crenshaw, the Warren Golf Course features a classic, walkable layout with narrow, tree-lined fairways and small greens, similar to Irish and American courses of the late 19th and early 20th century. It already has earned numerous awards during its brief tenure, most recently having been cited in Golfweek’s 2008 listing of “America’s Best Courses” in which the Warren layout was tabbed as the second-best public access course in the state of Indiana. Golf Digest, GOLF Magazine and Golf & Travel Magazine also have selected the Warren Golf Course for high honors since it opened nine years ago.
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