Oct. 15, 2009
NOTRE DAME, Ind. -
The Irish women's golf team continues its season at the 2009 Mercedes Benz Championship this weekend. Play the University of Tennessee hosted event begins on Friday, Oct. 16 and runs through Sunday, Oct. 18. The tournament will take place at the Fox Den Country Club in Knoxville, Tenn.
The Fox Den CC will play 6,317 yards in length and is a par 72. The course features bent grass greens; narrow tree-lined and well-bunkered fairways as well as a water hazard surrounding the 18th-green.
The five players comprising the Irish lineup at the Mercedes Benz Collegiate Championship will be seniors Annie Brophy (Spokane, Wash./Gonzaga Prep) and Kristin Wetzel (Middletown, N.Y./Hilton Head Prep), juniors So-Hyun Park (Seoul, South Korea/Bradenton Prep) and Katie Conway (Wading River, N.Y.) as well as sophomore Becca Huffer (Denver, Colo./Littleton).
HOLT QUOTES:
Head coach Susan Holt on what the Irish have left to accomplish this fall...
"We stumbled coming out of the block at Michigan State and we are slowly recovering from that. I think this tournament [the Mercedes Benz Championship] will be another opportunity for us to recover and position ourselves. Right now if we can break into the top 30 somewhere I will be pleased considering where we started. I think that we are certainly better than a top 30-team, but with only two tournaments left, there is only so much we can do."
On what the Irish have to do this weekend...
"We have to go out and play the way we are capable of playing. We need more people to show up every round at the same tournament. We've had bits and pieces at different events. This would be a wonderful opportunity for all the pieces to show up and fall into place at the same time. If we could do that, I think we have the talent to win the tournament."
Holt on the impressive field headed to Tennessee...
"There are 18 teams, 12 of which are currently ranked ahead of us, so we have an opportunity to beat some really good teams, which would certainly be a boost to our ranking. A top-five finish really would be great for us."
Holt on the course...
"I've never played at this course and it will be the first time I've ever taken a team down there. It's a challenging golf course from the reputation it has so we will have to hit some great shots."
THE COMPETITION: The 13th edition of the Mercedes-Benz Tournament will feature one of the most impressive fields in college golf, including nine top-25 ranked teams. The teams participating include (Golfstat rankings from 10.14.09 in parentheses): Arkansas (53), Chattanooga (17), Florida (12), Furman (32), Kent State (43), Kentucky (82), LSU (7), Louisville (22), Ole Miss (72), NC State (60), Notre Dame (50), Ohio State (9), UT-San Antonio, South Carolina (24), TCU (36), Tennessee (18), Tulane (20) and Wake Forest (19).
THE MERCEDES BENZ COLLEGIATE CHAMPIONSHIP: Notre Dame will be appearing in the Mercedes Benz Collegiate Championship for the first time in program history (it is also believed to be the first time Notre Dame will participate in a tournament in the state of Tennessee).
The 2009 Mercedes-Benz Collegiate Championship is hosted by Tennessee, which finished eighth at last year's event. Defending champion LSU also returns to try and make it two Mercedes Benz Championships in a row. The all-time tournament results are listed below:
Team Champions
1997 Duke 299-301-299=899
1998 Duke 306-295-291=892
1999 Georgia 297-303-306=906
2000 Duke 300-297-293=890
2001 Purdue 297-300-305=902
2002 Auburn 303-304-292=899
2003 Ohio State 296-292-296=884
2004 Ohio State 293-287-294=874
2005 Georgia 297-293-292=882
2006 Tennessee 298-298-291=887
2007 Florida 289-288-288=865 (TR)
2008 LSU 291-293-281=865 (TR)
Individual Winners
1997 Jenny Chuasiriporn (Duke) 69-72-71=212
1998 Stacy Prammanasudh (Tulsa)* 74-70-74=218
1999 Shauna Estes (Georgia)* 70-71-76=217
2000 Virada Nirapathpongporn (Duke) 76-70-69=215
2001 Kari Damron (Purdue) 71-74-72=217
2002 Ashley Orange (UNC) 72-70-76=218
2003 Allison Hanna (Ohio State) 73-69-75=217
2004 Violeta Retamoza (Tennessee) 72-68-71=211
2005 Amanda McCurdy (Arkansas) 70-74-69=213
2006 Jenny Suh (Alabama) 74-70-70=214
2007 Sandra Gal (Florida)* 69-71-70=210
2008 Lauren Doughtie (NC State) 68-73-68=209 (TR)
* won on a playoff
TR - Tournament Record
FORMAT: Each team's lineup will be comprised of five golfers with the lowest four scores for each round counting towards the overall team score. The tournament will consist three 18-hole rounds played on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Along with Tulane and TCU, Notre Dame will tee it up from hole 10 starting at 10:39 a.m. on Friday. Saturday and Sunday's tee times are scheduled to begin at 9:00 a.m.
RESULTS: Live hole-by-hole scoring of the 2009 Mercedes Benz Women's Collegiate Championship will be available through Golfstat. To access the site go to http://www.golfstatresults.com, while daily recaps will be posted on und.com. Live second round video of the 18th green will be available on Saturday through Tennessee's tournament homepage: http://www.utladyvols.com/sports/w-golf/m-benz-champs/mb-champs3.html
NEXT UP: Notre Dame closes out the fall portion of their 2009-10 schedule at the Alamo Invitational in San Antonio, Texas. The two-day event will be played at Briggs Ranch on October 26 and 27.
-- ND --
