April 19, 2009
DADE CITY, Fla. – The Irish women’s golf team shot an opening round plus-seven (295) at the 2009 BIG EAST Championship, putting them in second place at the Lake Jovita Country Club. Sophomore So-Hyun Park (Seoul, South Korea/Bradenton Prep) led the Irish with a minus-two 70 that was aided by a hole in one on the par-three fourth hole.
Park, is currently tied for third along with Louisville’s Cindy LaCrosse.
Senior captain Lisa Maunu (St. Thomas, Ontario/Parkside Collegiate Institute) shot Notre Dame’s second best round of the day with a plus-two 74. She turned in identical 37’s on the front and back nines and is currently tied for seventh.
Freshman Becca Huffer (Denver, Colo./Littleton) shot a plus-three 75 to become Notre Dame’s third scorer on the day. Her up-and-down day included four consecutive birdies on the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th holes; but she was hurt by a bogey-double bogey finish on 17 and 18. She is tied for 14th.
Junior Kristin Wetzel (Middletown, N.Y./Hilton Head Prep) shot a plus-four 76 to round out the Notre Dame scoring. She got off to a fast start with a birdie on the first hole on her way to turning in an even par-36 on the front nine, but Wetzel was hurt by bogeys on 16, 17 and 18. She is tied for 16th place.
Junior Annie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep), last year’s BIG EAST individual champion, rounded out the Irish contingent by shooting a plus-five 77, putting her in a tie for 20th.
The Irish trail first place Louisville by 16 shots. The Cardinals fired a minus-nine 279 in their first round, led by overall leader Laura Anderson, who shot a minus-five 67.
Play resumes tomorrow, April 20 as the Irish look to position themselves to make a run on Sunday in order to claim back-to-back BIG EAST Championships. A complete recap of second round action will be posted at www.und.com, while live stats of the second round will be available through www.Golfstat.com. The BIG EAST will also be updating the tee times through their tournament central golf page at www.bigeast.org, which will also provide a link to a USF-hosted live chat that will take place throughout the entirety of the tournament.
2009 BIG EAST Championship – Dade City, Fla. Par 72 – 6,386 Yards
Team Scores (18-hole totals): 1. Louisville 279; 2. Notre Dame 295; 3. Cincinnati 301; 4. St. John’s 306; t5. South Florida 308; t5. Georgetown 308; 7. Rutgers 322.
Top-5 Golfers (18-hole scores): 1. Laura Anderson (Louisville/67); 2. Daphne Parker (Louisville/69); t3. Cindy LaCrosse (Louisville/70); t3. So-Hyun Park (Notre Dame/70); 5. Anna Cumtell (Cincinnatti/72).
Notre Dame Scores (18-hole totals): t3. So-Hyun Park (70); t7. Lisa Maunu (74); t14. Becca Huffer (75); t16. Kristin Wetzel (76); t20. Annie Brophy (77).
–ND–