The Irish teed off Monday to continue play at the Big East championship at Reunion Resort in Orlando, Fla., eventually capping their second round in fourth place.
The squad could not hold the first-place lead it secured in the first round and fell behind South Florida, which shot a one-under 287 to best Notre Dame's 296 (+8).
Irish senior Paul McNamara started on a good note by firing three consecutive pars but fell on a rough patch later on, recording three bogeys on the back nine to end at two-over-par on the day.
That score placed McNamara in a tie for sixth place with freshman and teammate Cory Sciupider in the individual competition. McNamara started the day in second but could not keep up his great start from the first round. Sciupider, on the other hand, improved in the standings through consistency, firing his second consecutive even-par round to move from 10th to sixth.
Junior Niall Platt gave up some shots to the field Monday, shooting a 74 to move back from sixth into a tie for 12th place. Platt was hampered by a two-over 38 on the front nine but played par golf after the turn to help him stay in contention.
Freshman Zach Toste nearly matched his first-round score in Tuesday's second round but took one more stroke to card a four-over 76 and drop to seven-over-par overall.
Junior Andrew Lane was able to improve on his first round by two strokes, using three birdies to counter some rough holes and move up to 57th place.
Meanwhile, Cincinnati senior David Tepe continued to lead the individual competition after firing a second-straight round of 69, which put him at six-under for the tournament and gave him a two-shot lead. Following him was South Florida freshman Chase Koepka, whose consecutive rounds of 70 helped power the Bulls into the overall team lead.
With a seven-stroke differential dividing the fourth-place Irish from the lead and South Florida, the squad will tee off at 8 a.m. for the final round of the Big East championship.
