Oct. 5, 1997

Notre Dame Maintains Sixth Place at Michigan Invitational

Melby Leads Irish in Final Round While King Again Struggles

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The University of Notre Dame women's golf team maintained sixth place in final-round action Sunday at the Michigan Invitational, despite another off-day from senior co-captain Katie King.

Senior Tracy Melby

The Irish totaled a 331 in the play-six, count-four format to finish at 995 in the two-day, three-round event. Notre Dame nearly caught fifth-place Southwest Missouri State, which finished at 992 after slipping to a 338 on Sunday.

Senior co-captain Tracy Melby--Notre Dame's career stroke average leader--shot a 79 on Sunday, giving her a team-best 247 over the full 54 holes. Sophomore Andrea Klee carded an 84 to finish at 248 while freshman Mary Klein' final-round 85 yielded a 251 total. Sophomore Beth Cooper shot a final-round 83 and finished at 252. Senior Kristin Schaner did not factor in the team scoring, carding a 91 to finish at 259.

King--who shot 93 and 86 in Saturday's rounds--shot an 86 again on Sunday to complete three of the more sub-standard rounds of her stellar career. King did not factor into the Notre Dame's team score throughout the three rounds, after having counted to the Notre Dame score in 64 of her previous 72 career rounds (.889), the second-best percentage of rounds counted in the 10-year history of Notre Dame women's golf. King also had counted in 44 of her previous 46 rounds (.957) prior to the off-days at Michigan. She had carded 86 or higher just twice in her previous 35 rounds heading into the Michigan Invitational.

Melby's 79 lowered her career average to 82.15, just nine shots better than King's 82.27 (both players have totaled 75 rounds).

Melby also now leads the Irish through six rounds in 1997 with an 81.17 season stroke average, followed by Klee (81.33), Cooper (83.83), King (84.33) and Klein (85.00).

TEAM RESULTS (54 of 54 holes):
1. Indiana 304-3070309/9201;
2. Purdue 318-316-316/950;
3. Northwestern 321-311-327/959;
4. Michigan State 318-320-331/969;
5. Southwest Missouri State 321-331-338/992;
6. Notre Dame 331-333-331/995;
7. Eastern Michigan 336-339-329/1004;
8. Toledo 336-335-335/1006;
9. Michigan 331-337-341/1009;
10. Ohio 342-341-347/1030;
11. Bowling Green 349-343-342/1034;
12. Cincinnati 349-341-345/1035;
13. Xavier 364-346-353/1063.

TOP INDIVIDUALS (of 81):
1. Erin Carney, IND, 74-73-77/224;
2. Megan Schumaker, MSU, 77-75-77/229; Jenny Gray, IND, 75-77-77/229;
4. Colleen Cashman, PUR, 79-79-75/233; Angela Blythe, PUR, 78-75-80/233;
6. Kasey Gant, MSU, 75-78-84/237; Rebecca Halpern, NW, 82-73-82/237; Sami Montgomery, IND, 81-81-75/237;
9. Therese McDermott, IND, 74-82-83/239; Michelle Hatfield, IND, 81-78-80/239.

NOTRE DAME SCORES:
23. Tracy Melby 85-83-79/247;
25. Andrea Klee 80-84-84/248;
30. Mary Klein 82-84-85/251;
33. Beth Cooper 87-82-83/252;
47. Kristin Schaner 84-84-91/259;
61. Katie King 93-86-86/265

COMPETING AS INDIVIDUALS:
Brigid Fisher 82-87-89/258;
Becca Schloss 89-83-82/254.