Notre Dame came out strong in the first day of play at the Windy City Collegiate Classic in Golf, Ill.
The Irish posted an opening-round score of 12-over, good enough for fourth place after the first day of play.
"We played well today," Irish coach Susah Holt said. "To be honest, while we played well, I thought we could even play better. We're fourth right now, and I am pleased with that. We had a few people shoot under-par this afernoon, while others ended up over or even for the day."
The Irish are playing handicapped in Chicago, with reigning Big East Freshman of the Year Ashley Armstrong out with an injury. This means all four Irish scores will be counted each round, instead of a usual four out of five.
"Ashley got hurt about ten days ago, so we knew we would only be playing with four players," Holt said. "To be honest, they all stepped up today as a team. There is a little bit of pressure with each score counting, as we didn't have the luxury of dropping a score."
Though playing without one of their leaders, Holt believes her team has faired well in the face of adversity.
"I think we have handled [Armstrong's absence] well," Holt said. "We have fought thought it well and right now, we are sitting pretty good. The tournament is far from over, but there are alot of good teams and players here. It's great that we are fourth now, but we have to show up tomorrow and finish the job."
Freshmen Lindsey Weaver and Talia Campbell have carried the Irish. Weaver has performed especially well, carding a three-under-par 141 through two rounds, tying her for first place. Though sitting high on the leaderboard, Weaver believes she can play even better, Holt said.
"Weaver played really well today," Holt said. "She was not too happy overall though. She made three birdies early, but ended up giving them all back and bogied her last hole. She shot a 70 her second round, I think she's playing well, but just not able to keep her score as low as she would like."
Holt hopes her team can close out the tournament strongly with a low-scoring round today.
"We came here to win this thing," Holt said. "We have a great group of players. They fight hard and are happy with how they are playing. They just have to go out there and take it one shot at a time. If we do that, we can be victorious."
The Irish tee off their final round of the Windy City Collegiate Classic today in the morning.
Contact Nick Boyle at nboyle1@nd.edu
