Notre Dame concluded its regular season this week with a fourth-place finish at the Canes and Cardinal Classic at the 6210-yard, par-72 Don Shula Golf Club in Miami, marking the final tournament for the No. 25 Irish before the Big East and NCAA tournaments at the end of the month.
Notre Dame freshman So-Hyun Park scored an even-par 216 for the event to finish tied for second overall, while the Irish carded a round-low 289 on Tuesday to slide into the top five. Notre Dame coach Susan Holt liked her team's effort.
"[The course] gave us an opportunity to shoot some good scores," Holt said. "It's important to get our confidence up heading into the Big East tournament."
No. 27 Louisville, which opened the tournament Monday with a week-low 284, cruised to a comfortable first-place finish, its 7-over 871 was 13 strokes ahead of the pack.
Furman University and Georgia State tied for second with 884, 20-over, while the Irish placed fourth with a 22-over 886. Tulsa rounded out the top-five with a 24-over 888.
Louisville junior Cindy Lacrosse earned medalist honors with a 4-under 212, four strokes ahead of Park and two others who tied for second. The top-two finish was the fifth of Park's young career, who has led the Irish in scoring six teams this season and has finished first overall twice.
Fellow Irish freshman Katie Conway finished tied for 11th overall, shooting a personal season-best 4-over 220. Holt attributed the team's success to both preparation - in spite of the South Bend weather - and familiarity with the course.
"We've been able to get outside a bit here at home and it's the most we've been out this year and the team is putting up good scores," Holt said. "I am very familiar with the course there because when I was head coach at South Florida we'd play there every year for the Florida state collegiate championship for 14 years. I certainly feel at home there. It's a great course and I think it set up well for us."
After shooting a 1-under 71 in the first round, Park rebounded from a second-round 76 to shoot a team-low 69 in the third round.
Conway tallied a second-round 74 in addition to her first and third round 74s.
Sophomore Kristin Wetzel bounced back from a first-round 78 to card a 10-over 226, good enough for 30th overall. Fellow sophomore Annie Brophy also rebounded in later rounds, responding with second and third-round 74s after shooting an 80 Monday. She finished tied for 37th with a 12-over 226. Junior captain Lisa Maunu contributed a 14-over 228 to end up 47th overall.
Notre Dame hits the links again on April 20 at the Big East Championship in Batavia, Ohio.
