In their final event of the fall season, the Irish completed the first day of play in the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate, a two-day tournament in Dallas, Texas, on Monday. The Irish struggled to find consistency and rhythm through the first 36 holes of the event en route to an eleventh place finish for the day.
Texas A&M leads the tournament with a -11 score through two rounds, 25 strokes ahead of the Irish.
"There were several teams that played well today," Irish coach Jim Kubinski said. "They outputted our team pretty handily."
The Irish struggles on the putting green contributed to a number of high scores, a problem that has held back the team the whole season. On a day in which the Notre Dame golfers recorded over 30 birdies, they notched a similar number of bogeys.
Sophomore Niall Platt carded the low score through 36 holes for the Irish as he followed a pedestrian +1 in the first round with a -3 in the second. Platt came out of the gate strong in the second round, recording four birdies on the front nine. His final score puts him into a five-way tie for 10th place in the individual rankings.
Max Scodro led the Irish in the first round with a -3 score but faltered on the second 18 with a +5. The junior finished near the top of the field after the first round, but fell into a tie for 28th individually by the end of the day.
"Max [Scodro] played very well this morning," Kubinski said. "He just missed some full swing shots in the afternoon."
Seniors Chris Walker and Tom Usher turned in consistent performances of +4 and +6, respectively. Junior Paul McNamara struggled from the outset, carding a 10 over par in the first round, followed by a score +8 in the second.
"Paul has to learn to relax and play golf, giving up his need to control the environment at all times," Kubinski said. "He's a heck of a player when he does."
Despite the struggles on Monday, Kubinski said he saw bright spots for the Irish.
"We played some good stretches today," Kubinski said. "We just didn't take advantage of some of the easier holes."
With just one round of golf separating the Irish from the offseason, Kubinski said he'd like to see his team improve in the standings Tuesday with a solid round.
"We can move up a few spots with a good round tomorrow," Kubinski said. "Tomorrow is another opportunity to put together a strong and full team round."
The Irish hit the links again Tuesday morning at 8:30 a.m.
Contact Conor Kelly at ckelly17@nd.edu
