Oct. 15, 2000
Box Score
SOUTH BEND, Ind. -
It was a record-setting day for Notre Dame freshman Rebecca Rogers and the
Irish women's golf team on Sunday at Warren Golf Course, as both posted
comfortable first-place finishes at the Notre Dame Invitational.
Rogers is the sixth Irish women's golfer to win an intercollegiate event in
the program's 12-year history and is the first to do so since the spring of
1997 (when then-junior Tracy Melby won the 73-player Illinois Spring
Classic). The last time a Notre Dame freshman won a women's golf
intercollegiate tournament was the fall of 1989, when Kathy Phares won the
43-player Indianapolis Invitational and Cappy Mack finished atop the
25-player Franklin Invitational.
Rogers'-whose solid rookie season includes the team's second-best stroke
average (79.67, just behind senior Shane Smith's 79.33)-closed with a 74 on
the par-72, 5,955-yard layout for a 225 total and the second-best 54-hole
tournament score in Notre Dame women's golf history, just one stroke shy of
Alicia Murray's seven-year-old record (Rogers posted rounds of 70-81 on
Saturday). Illinois State's Nicole Foy (75-81-77-233) finished a distant
second in the 67-player field, eight shots off the pace.
Notre Dame closed with a 312 for a 935 total and a 30-stroke cushion over
runner-up Princeton (315-965) in the 10-team field.
Irish sophomore Terri Taibl had an impressive debut showing for the 2000
fall season, closing with a 77 for a 237 and a share of fifth. Junior
Kristin McMurtrie (83-238) and Smith (81-239) also posted top-10 finishes
while freshmen Shannon Byrne (80-244) and Jeanne Murphy (88-266) rounded
out the Notre Dame squad in the play-six, count-four format.
Seven other Irish players competed as individual entrants, with solid
showings by sophomore Priscilla Ro (79-240), senior Danielle Villarosa
(81-243), sophomore Shelby Strong (82-247) and junior Lauren Fuchs
(85-252). Sophomores Nina Siggins (89-254) and Michelle Halverson (88-265)
also competed as individuals, as did junior Jenny Lynch (91-270).
NOTES: Rogers' opening 70 is the best intercollegiate round in ND history,
besting the 71 posted by three previous golfers (Rogers' -2 round ranks
third all-time in relation to par) ... Murray's ND record 54-hole effort
came at the 1993-94 Indiana Invitational (224, +11) ... Rogers nine-over
54-hole total also ranks 2nd in the ND record book, in relation to par
(behind
Mary Klein's eight-over 230 at the 1997-98 Indiana Invitational)
... the team title was the fifth in Irish women's golf history and the
second in the last two years ... ND's 304 opening round ranks 4th in ND
history and is best by an Irish squad since 1997-98 (that team turned in
rounds of 295, 302 and 303) ... that +16 team round ranks sixth in the ND
record book, in relation to par ... ND's 943 total blew away the previous
team record for low 54-hole score (943 at the 1997-98 Kentucky
Invitational) ... the +71 team total checks in as the program's 2nd-best
54-hole score in relation to par (the '97-'98 team totaled a 65-over 953 at
the Indiana Invitational).
