In a field riddled with top-ranked teams, Notre Dame tied for seventh at the Bryan National Collegiate in Greensboro, North Carolina.
The Irish shot a 45-over-par 909 for the tournament, just nine shots behind tournament-champion No. 12 Virginia. Irish head coach Susan Holt said she knows the team can do better.
“We were still pretty inconsistent,” Holt said. “[Sunday] we had it going, we were playing well, and we lost some shots, which really cost us. We could have easily finished in the top five. Overall it isn’t going to hurt us in the rankings. At this point in the season, we need to not be losing shots and wasting shots.”
The Irish started the weekend on the wrong foot Friday, shooting a 21-over-par 309 to place 11th after one day of play. Over the next two days though, Notre Dame improved its play to shoot an 11-over-par 299 Saturday and a 13-over-par 301 Sunday to wrap up its tournament. Holt said she was happy with the way her team came from behind after the first day.
“We did not play well the first day,” Holt said. “But I was really proud of the team for bouncing back the second day. We ended up having the low round of the day in difficult conditions. We just played better. We managed the conditions better, [the team] managed themselves better. It’s a learning process all the way through.”
Though Notre Dame finished seventh, they were within touching distance of the leaders. Holt said the team is very close to being able to compete with the top-ranked programs in the ACC.
“We only missed first place by nine shots,” Holt said. “We’re being competitive, which is great, but we still have little things, nitpicky things that are the difference from us finishing seventh to us finishing first. The competition we’re going to be playing the rest of the year is going to be top teams all the way through. We really have to clean things up and pay attention to detail, which this team is capable of. They just have to execute and get it done.”
The top performer for the Irish on the weekend was junior Talia Campbell who tied for sixth place overall with a six-over-par 222. Holt said she was glad Campbell was able to turn around her game this weekend.
“[Campbell] let some shots get away from her because of her frustration on the first day,” Holt said. “The last couple of days, she played really solid. She managed herself and managed the conditions. It’s a really good finish in that field because there were a lot of really good individual players. For her to play that well in that field, on that golf course, with those conditions was really impressive.”
Senior captain Ashley Armstrong — who often leads the Irish on the scorecard — finished with a 10-over 226 to place 17th. While Armstrong typically leads the Irish, Holt said she was not disappointed with her captain's play.
“Golf is not an individual sport when it comes to what we’re doing,” Holt said. “We need everybody to step up. We need four scores every single day. It doesn’t matter who does it, we just need to get it done. I don’t think it’s fair to put pressure on any one player, it’s on everybody to accept that responsibility and get it done.”
The Irish will have a week off before competing in the ACC championships. Holt said her team is ready to make an impact.
“I think we’ve got a great chance,” Holt said. “We’re being competitive. We beat Duke earlier this year, we beat Virginia earlier this year. I like our chances, we’ve got good players. Just like all the other teams in the ACC, everybody is going to have to show up and get it done. It’s going to be really competitive, there are four teams ranked in the top 25 in the ACC.”
The ACC championships will begin at Sedgefield Golf Club in Greensboro, North Carolina, on April 17.
