Sept. 11, 2005
SOUTH BEND, Ind. - Senior Megan Godfrey climbed from tied for 15th place to tied for 6th place on the final day of the Notre Dame Invitational, but the Illini women's golf team ended Sunday where they started - in eighth place. Godfrey's closing 75 was one better than her opening 76. Her finish in the 89-player field was a five-place improvement from last year's 11th spot on the leaderboard.
Although the team dropped two places compared to last fall, it actually improved its final-round score by nine shots from 318 to 309 - somewhat of a reversal - one year ago, Godfrey and teammates combined for an initial score of 309, and a pair of 318s followed. This year the Orange and Blue posted scores of 319 and 323 in Saturday's rounds.
Host Notre Dame led from beginning to end, finishing 22 shots in front of Illinois and nine ahead of The University of Toledo. The Irish's Noriko Nakazaki (+7) shared medalist honors with Indiana's Shannon Johnson who erased a three-shot deficit.
Godfrey was not the only Illini golfer to make significant improvements Sunday. Sophomore Stephanie Mory carded a 77 after two 81s, ascending 11 places into a tie for 23rd. Fellow sophomore Seul Ki Park moved up two spots to tie for 26th place.
Next weekend, head coach Paula Smith and Illinois travel to East Lansing, Mich. for the Mary Fossum Invitational.
Notre Dame Invitational Final Results
1. Notre Dame, U. of 311-306-312= 929
2. Toledo, U. of 319-315-304=938
3. Georgetown U. 312-316-317= 945
4. Bradley University 314-313-321=948
5. Eastern Michigan 324-312-313=949
6. Western Michigan U. 314-326-310=950
Xavier University 321-314-315=950
8. ILLINOIS 319-323-309=951
9. Yale University 318-325-311=954
10. Winthrop University 316-335-319=970
11. Butler University 323-322-329=974
Indiana University 321-332-321=974
13. Boston College 334-335-324=993
14. Bucknell University 330-336-339=1005
15. Western Illinois U. 364-332-350=1046
16. IUPUI 353-349-354=1056
17. St. Mary's Coll. (Ind.) 369-350-374=1093
Illinois Results T 6 Megan Godfrey 76-81-75=232 T 23 Stephanie Mory 81-81-77=239 T 26 Seul Ki Park 80-81-79=240 T 46 Casey Burden 83-84-78=245 T 46 Meghan Naik 82-80-83=245
