After a disappointing showing in their last outing, No. 44 Notre Dame will travel to Oxford, Miss., this weekend for the Ole Miss Rebel Intercollegiate Tournament in their last regular-season event before the ACC championship.
Nhim has had the most successful season of her career as a senior, finishing as the individual champion of the Clover Cup on March 14-16, for her first collegiate tournament championship.
“[Kristina’s] playing really well right now — she’s in a good spot,” Irish coach Susan Holt said. “That’s the key for us — her continuing that play and for the others to step up and do what she’s doing.”
Besides Nhim and Ferreira, junior Ashley Armstrong, junior Kelli Oride and sophomore Talia Campbell will all take the course for the Irish this weekend. All five golfers playing this weekend have finished in the top 25 of a tournament this season, and all have stroke averages below 77.27.
“We have three individuals right now on our team that have won college tournaments,” Holt said. “Not a lot of schools across the country can say that. We have depth.”
This weekend at the Ole Miss Golf Course, the Irish will face defending champion Coastal Carolina, as well as three other teams in the top 50. The invitational will provide Notre Dame with a chance to become more comfortable while playing outside, Holt said. This spring, the Irish have only been to practice outside twice, although they were able to get in a practice round Wednesday, Holt said.
“For us to be able to get outside, it’s exciting,” she said. “Taking divots, hitting shots off grass. It’s the little things sometimes. In a certain way it helps us get more prepared and better prepared for tournament time. And they all really like the golf course. [It is] fun and scorable.”
With the ACC championship and NCAA tournament looming just around the corner, Holt stressed the importance of the team getting into a rhythm.
“More than anything I’m looking for is to get some consistency in our rounds from day to day,” Holt said. “We’ve been all over the map. We need to get a better handle on our games overall and play the kind of golf we’re capable of playing. That’s the key moving into the postseason.”
The Irish begin play Friday at the Ole Miss Rebel Intercollegiate Tournament at the Ole Miss Golf Course in Oxford, Miss.
