After the second round of golf at the Central District Invitational in Sarasota, Fla., the Irish stand in ninth place in a field of 13 as they enter their final day of competition.
Monday, the Irish finished with a score of 11 over par in the first two rounds, shooting 292 in the first round and 295 in the second. Notre Dame is only three strokes behind Indiana, the eighth-place team.
The current first-place team, Central Florida, shot 15 under par between both rounds. Vanderbilt finished the day in second place at 13 under par, and host Michigan State finished the day in third at 10 under par.
“We played better than we did in the fall,” Irish coach Susan Holt said. “It’s all relative. Obviously, we’re not happy with our place finish at this point. The scores are out there. We have to be a little more aggressive and get the scores that we’re capable of getting.”
After a long day of golf Monday, Holt said Notre Dame will need to toughen up mentally in order to prepare for the final round.
“We just told the girls to kind of evaluate how they played today relative to course management,” Holt said. “We need to manage how to play the hole better and make a better game plan. Hopefully, that’ll be reflected in our scores tomorrow.”
Despite the disappointing scores, Holt said there were some bright spots. Sophomore Talia Campbell shot a 70 in the first round, putting her two-under par, and junior Ashley Armstrong finished one-under par for the day, shooting a 73 in the first round and a 70 in the second. Armstrong finished the second round in 14th overall.
The team will try to increase those successes and minimize the failures, Holt said.
“Some people putted well, some people didn’t; some people hit their drivers well and some people didn’t,” Holt said. “It’s really being critical of what we’re doing wrong and improving on it to get better scores.”
The Irish will play again tomorrow starting at 9 a.m. After that, the team will have a break until the Clover Cup on March 14 in Notre Dame, Ind.
