Oct. 26, 2017
By Claire Kramer
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team will look to build upon last week’s team win at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational as they close out the fall season this weekend. fall season will come to a close this weekend at the Landfall Tradition in Wilmington, North Carolina.
Hosted by the University of Notre Carolina Wilmington, this marks the seventh consecutive year the Irish have participated in the tournament.
2017 LANDFALL TRADITION
Dates: October 27-29
Format: 54 holes (18 holes each day)
Location: Wilmington, North Carolina
Course (Par/Yardage): Pete Dye Course at the Country Club of Landfall (par 72/6,166 yards)
Tee Times: Specific pairings and tee times TBA for Friday and Saturday rounds. Sunday’s final round will be a shotgun start.
Tournament Field (18 teams): Alabama, Clemson, Duke, Florida, Furman, Kentucky, LSU, Michigan, Michigan State, NC State, Notre Dame, Oklahoma State, Penn State, Purdue, South Carolina, UCF, UNCW, Virginia.
Notre Dame Lineup: Emma Albrecht (1), Maddie Rose Hamilton (2), Abby Heck (3), Isabella DiLisio (4), Mia Ayer (5), Alison Snakard (Individual).
Live Scoring: Golfstat
Twitter: @NDwomensGolf
COACH HOLT ON THE LANDFALL TRADITION
“Wilmington is one of our favorite tournaments of the year. It’s just always a great venue and a great field, and I know the girls are excited to get back there and we have a chance to play well again. We’ve had a pretty good showing there the last few years.”
ON THE COURSE
“It’s a Pete Dye golf course, and a lot of these events that our players have played in over the years on the AJGA tour are Dye courses. They’re familiar with it. They’ve all had good individual rounds, every single one of them at some point in time. It’s a fair golf course and scoreable. You still have to hit quality golf shots, and we do a good job of that, keeping the ball in front of us, keeping the ball in play.
I think for this event, it really comes down to a putting contest, who gets the ball to the hole first. The greens are challenging. Again, it’s a Pete Dye golf course, so big greens, lots of undulation, good speed. That part of it for us is going to be key to playing well.”
ON RECENT SUCCESS
The Irish won last week’s Bettie Lou Evans Invitational, and junior Emma Albrecht was the co-medalist with a weekend score of 5-under par 211. Three Irish players ranked in Golfstat’s top 100 individual players this week: Albrecht (58), junior Maddie Rose Hamilton (75) and Isabella DiLisio (98). Albrecht and Hamilton were also ranked in Golfweek’s top 100, at 41 and 82, respectively.
Hamilton tied for fourth last weekend at even par 216 on the tournament, and freshman Abby Heck finished not far behind, tying for 15th with a six-over par 222. DiLisio rounded out the top four Irish scores one stroke behind Heck, tying for 20th. Team captain Alison Snakard finished the weekend with an average round score of 80.7, and sophomore Mia Ayer played as an individual and shot a 14-over par 230 on the weekend.
“They’re all playing so well and they’ve all had big contributions throughout the lineup all semester, which has been great. For us to have three in the top 100 is awesome.
“I think it takes the pressure off, to know that we have the depth that we have. We haven’t always had that, and I think we’ve always looked to one or two players, and it’s like ‘If they don’t play well, we don’t play well.’ That really hasn’t been the case this year. I think they’re, in their own way, pushing and motivating each other. Emma played great, got her first win, which was awesome. She had such a good year last year. It’s amazing, she’s just been able to keep it going. This game is hard, week in and week out to play as consistently as she has, it’s been really impressive. We’ve played great golf courses and really good fields, and she’s held her own. I think all the girls have done a really good job-they’re all trying to keep up with each other, which is great.”
SEASON SNAPSHOT
- The Irish have had a strong fall season, tying for third at the Minnesota Invitational (Sept. 11-12), tying for sixth at the Schooner Fall Classic (Sept. 23-25) and winning the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational (Oct. 6-8).
- Emma Albrecht led the Irish with a seventh-place showing at the Minnesota Invitational (68-72-70=210). She then carded a career-low 67 in the second round of the Schooner Fall Classic and posted her first career win at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational when she claimed co-medalist honors (70-69-73=211).
- Notre Dame’s last tournament win came when it finished first at the Chip-N Club Invitational in Lincoln, Nebraska (Oct. 6, 2015). The last Notre Dame player to take medalist honors was Kristina Nhim, who won the Clover Cup in Mesa, Arizona on March 16, 2014.
- Maddie Rose Hamilton also tied for fourth at the Bettie Lou Evans Invitational with an even-par 216 marking the first time Notre Dame had two individuals finish in the top five of an event since Oct. 5-6, 2015.
- Hamilton set the program record by shooting a second round 65 (-6) at the Schooner Fall Classic. The -6 also tied for the lowest round in program history in relation to par. Previously, So-Hyun Park (2008-09) and Lisa Maunu (2007-08) also carded six-under par scores, both of which were 66’s on par 72 courses.
- Also at the at the Schooner Fall Classic, Notre Dame carded a final round 278 (-6) marked the second lowest score in program history, just one stroke off the record of 277 carded in the second round of the 2014 Schooner Classic. The -6 also tied for the their best round in program history in relation to par.
- Notre Dame’s three-round total of 854 (+2) at the Schooner Fall Classic also marked the second-lowest three round score in program history and the fourth-best three round score in relation to par.
NOTRE DAME UNDER COACH HOLT
Head Coach Susan Holt is in her 12th season leading the Irish. Over the previous 11 seasons, Holt has led Notre Dame to nine NCAA regional appearances and helped Notre Dame earn its first NCAA Championship berth in program history (2011). In addition, the Irish have captured four conference titles, won 17 tournament championships (team), had 15 individual medalist winners. Her players have also earned 27 all-conference accolades as well as the first two All-America selections in Notre Dame women’s golf history.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Irish will break after this tournament closes the fall season. Notre Dame will kick off the spring season February 9-11 at the Florida State Matchup in Tallahassee. — ND —
Claire Kramer is a senior student assistant for Fighting Irish Media, working closely with the Athletics Communications Directors as the student team lead for football and men’s and women’s golf. An American studies major with minors in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy and Theology, Kramer is from Olathe, Kansas.