April 7, 2002
Bloomington, Ind. – The Notre Dame women’s golf team closed out play at the Indiana Invitational by shooting a final round 313 to give the Irish a 54-hole total of 967 and an 11th-place finish. Notre Dame finished 48 strokes behind the University of Michigan as the Wolverines moved from third to first on the final day by shooting a five-over par 301 to finish with a 919 score.
Michigan started the day 10 strokes behind Saturday’s 36-hole leader, Indiana, but made up 12 shots in the final 18 holes to edge the host Hoosiers by two strokes for the title. Indiana shot a 313 for a 33-over par total of 921 for 54 holes on the par 74, 6,134-yard Indiana University Golf Club.
Finishing third was the University of Illinois with a 923 (307-308-308). Kent State (924) and Michigan State (925) finished fourth and fifth respectively as six shots separated the top five teams for the weekend.
Individually, Michigan State’s Emily Bastel fired a four-under par 70 on Sunday to break a three-way tie for first and win the tournament by six strokes with a three-under par 219 (74-75-70). Three golfers tied for second with led by 36-hole co-leader Marla Cox of Illinois. Cox shot a two-over par 76 after rounds of 75 and 74 on Saturday. Michigan’s Kim Benedict (76-75-74) and Katie Connelly of Wisconsin (76-76-73) also tied for second with 225 marks. Closing out the top five spots were Karen Dennison of Indiana and Laurin Kanda of Illinois as they tied for fifth with 227’s.
For the Irish, freshman Karen Lotta (Los Angeles, Calif.) was the team’s top finisher as she tied for 28th, 21 shots behind Bastel. Lotta had rounds of 78, 84 and 78 for an 18-over par 240.
Sophomore Rebecca Rogers (Alpharetta, Ga.) turned in her best single round of the season with a three-over par 77. That moved her into a tie for 37th with a 54-hole total of 242.
Terri Taibl (Jr., Elm Grove, Wis.) tied for 53rd with a 246 (85-82-79) and senior Kristin McMurtrie (Calgary, Alb.) matched her final round 79 to tie for 59th with a 248 (89-80-79).
Shannon Byrne (So., Arlington Heights, Ill.) tied for 61st with a 249 (80-86-83) and Lauren Fuchs (Sr., Louisville, Ky.) tied for 78th with a 262 total (89-85-88).
The Irish are off next weekend and then close out the regular season on Saturday-Sunday, April 20-21 when they participate in the Ohio State Buckeye Invitational.
FINAL TEAM RESULTS (54-hole totals): 1. Michigan 312-306-301-919, 2. Indiana 303-305-313-921, 3. Illinois 307-308-923, 4. Kent State 310-310-304-924, 5. Michigan State 310-313-302-925, t6. Wisconsin 312-313-327-952, Missouri 320-322-310-952, 8. Arkansas-Little Rock 314-320-320-954, 9. Minnesota 323-321-320-964, 10. Iowa 315-327-323-965, 11. Notre Dame 326-328-313-967, 12. Ohio University 331-317-325-973, 13. Kansas 329-329-322-980, 14. Illinois State 335-336-327-998.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (of 84): 1. Emily Bastel (Michigan State) 74-75-70-219, t2. Kim Benedict (Michigan) 76-75-74-225, Marla Cox (Illinois) 75-74-76-225, Katie Connelly (Wisconsin) 76-76-73-225, t5. Karen Dennison (Indiana) 71-78-78-227, Laurin Kanda (Illinois) 76-75-76-227, 7. Martina Gillen (Kent State) 76-76-77-229, t8. Mary Lidester (Indiana) 79-72-79-230, Renata Young (Illinois) 79-77-74-230, t10. Tiffany Fisher (Indiana) 76-79-76-231, Veronique Drouin (Kent State) 78-77-76-231, Le Anna Wicks (Michigan) 79-77-75-231, Leigh Ann Griffin (Kent State) 76-80-75-231.
NOTRE DAME INDIVIDUALS (of 84): t28. Karen Lotta 78-84-78-240, t37. Rebecca Rogers 83-83-77-242, t53. Terri Taibl 85-82-79-246, t59. Kristin McMurtrie 89-80-79-248, t61. Shannon Byrne 80-86-83-249, t78. Lauren Fuchs 89-85-88-262.