Oct. 15, 2016
By Dan Colleran
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The Notre Dame women’s golf team heads back to Texas for the second consecutive tournament, this time to take part in the 2016 Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational on Oct. 17-18 at the University of Texas Golf Club in Austin, Texas.
THE DETAILS
Date: Oct. 17-18, 2016
Format: 36 continuous holes on Monday, 18 holes on Tuesday
Tee Times: Shotgun starts at 9:30 a.m. ET Monday and 9:45 ET Tuesday (Notre Dame will start on holes 5-8 on Monday).
Location: Austin, Texas
The Course: The UT Golf Club (Par 72– exact yardage TBA based on wind conditions)
Tournament Field: Baylor, Kent State, Miami, Minnesota, New Mexico, North Florida, Notre Dame, SMU, Tulsa, Tulane, Texas, Texas State, Texas Tech, UNLV.
Live Scoring: BirdieFire.com
NOTRE DAME LINEUP
Senior Jordan Ferreira will lead the Notre Dame lineup from the No. 1 position, followed by sophomores Maddie Rose Hamilton, Emma Albrecht and Isabella DiLisio, as well as freshman Mia Ayer. For Ayer, a Waco, Texas native, it will mark the second consecutive tournament she will play in her home state.
COACH HOLT QUOTES
On the course ââ’¬¦
“Coach Demeter and myself are really excited to be returning to the UT Golf Club. It’s a great golf course and a true test. The golf course requires you to hit quality golf shots time and time again. We have excellent ball strikers so I think the course will set up well for us.”
On what the team needs to do for a successful tournament ââ’¬¦
“As for our team, we need to put three solid rounds of golf on the board. We just haven’t been as consistent as we need to be [so far this season]. We have the talent to do it, we just need to get it done. We need to quit taking big numbers on holes and capitalize on good shots by converting more birdies. If we can do this, we will have a chance to be competitive this week.”
THE BETSY RAWLS IN BRIEF
The Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational annually features many of the top women’s golf teams in the country. Dating back to March of 1974, the tournament was originally called the “Texas Invitational” until it was renamed in 1977 to honor Betsy Rawls. Now in its 43rd year, past champions include Nancy Lopez and Annika Sorenstam.
A 1950 graduate of The University of Texas, Betsy Rawls won more than 50 tour championships between 1951 and 1975, including four U.S. Opens, and appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1964. She was inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame and, in 1977, into the World Golf Hall of Fame.
AN IRISH RETURN
Notre Dame last played in the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational during the 2009-10 season when the Irish placed 11th (in a 17-team field) after firing a final round 317 (+29). Then senior Annie Brophy (74-78-77-229) led the way for Notre Dame, earning a share of 26th place in the 90-player field.
UP NEXT
Notre Dame closes out the month of October at UNC Wilmington’s The Landfall Tradition (Oct. 28-30), which will be played at the Country Club of Landfall in Wilmington, North Carolina.
— ND —
Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).