After two days and three rounds of golf, the Irish finished in eighth place out of a field of 14 teams in the Crooked Stick Intercollegiate in Carmel, Ind.
On the par-72 Crooked Stick Golf Club course, Notre Dame shot a collective 302 to end the tournament with an overall score of 912 (306, 304, 302). On Tuesday, the Irish outshot seven of its competitors but failed to move up in the rankings from eighth place.
"I thought [Tuesday] we played middle of the road," Irish coach Jim Kubinski said. "We did some good things, but we made some mistakes. Our approach shots were not as good as they should have been. We had our lowest scoring round of the tournament on a tough day, so that was good to see."
Kubinski said approach shots set the Irish apart from the top-tier teams in the field.
No. 12 Arkansas finished in first place with an overall score of 875 (306, 285, 284), No. 8 Georgia placed third with a 801 (295, 290, 296) and No. 15 Florida State took fourth with a 887 (292, 296, 299).
"We have to get better inside 150 yards," Kubinski said. "From there, the best teams make birdies. We made some birdies, but we also made bogeys. We need to clean up that, and I think we can do it."
Irish senior Niall Platt led the Irish with a 15th-place finish and a 7-over total score of 223 (78, 72, 70). Platt shot a two-under-par 70 to move from 34th to 15th place from Monday to Tuesday. Sophomore Cory Sciupider tied for 29 with a 13-over 229 (77, 73, 79), and junior Tyler Wingo tied for 39th with a 231 (79, 77, 75).
"Niall [Platt] had his third top-15 performance on the season, which is great," Kubinski said. "He has played beautifully. Tyler Wingo got better every day, and Cory [Sciupider] played three-under-par for nine holes [Monday]."
Freshmen Liam Cox and Matt Rustler rounded out Notre Dame's five golfers. Cox tied for 43rd while Rustler tied for 56th, with total scores of 232 (75, 76, 81) and 235 (79, 78, 78), respectively.
The young Irish team struggled to let shots go, which affected its game, Kubinski said.
"Some of our younger guys need to grow more emotionally," Kubinski said. "They may hit a bad shot, [and] they can be angry, but they then need to focus on the next shot.
"Part of it is, us as coaches need to emphasize the need for emotional maturity, and it takes some time and some work to get our points across. Buying into that, we do it in small pieces, and they have to realize they can't hold onto every shot."
The Irish next travel to Beallsville, Md., to play in the Georgetown Intercollegiate beginning Monday.
