Though it shaved 30 shots off its score from last year, Notre Dame still finished sixth at the ACC championships in Greensboro, North Carolina, this weekend.
The Irish shot a 12-over-par 876 over the course of two days to finish 39 strokes behind tournament champion Virginia. Irish head coach Susan Holt said she was pleased with her squad despite the sixth-place finish.
“We played well,” Holt said. “You can’t do anything about it. I’d rather play well and get beat than play bad and know that you maybe had a chance. Virginia just ran away with it. It’s just amazing how well they played on that golf course. We had contributions from everybody and had really good scores.”
Holt said she attributes some the Irish’s low finish to the fact that the ACC is an elite conference for women’s golf.
“We’re in a really tough conference,” Holt said. “The ACC golf conference is probably top three in the country. It’s a great conference [with] three teams ranked in the top 10 in the country. I’m a firm believer if you win the ACC championship, you’re going to be competing for a national championship.”
The top performer for the Irish in the tournament was junior Talia Campbell, who shot a one-under-par 215. Campbell’s 11th-place individual performance was highlighted by a chip-in eagle on hole 15.
“Talia’s just been playing great golf, really all spring,” Holt said. “She has consistently put up some really solid numbers on some really good golf courses. She’s hitting the ball better than she ever has and having a lot of opportunities to make birdies. She just needs to capitalize a little bit more. I’m hopeful that she’ll get there.”
Another bright spot for the Irish over the weekend was freshman Kari Belville, who tied for 26th place with a four-over-par 220. Holt said she is happy for Belville because the freshman has been close to breaking out all season.
“She had a really good week of practice last week,” Holt said. “She hasn’t been scoring very well the last couple tournaments, but she’s been really close to playing well. I sat down and talked to her after Wake Forest, and I told her, ‘Don’t get discouraged because you are so close.’ She played really good golf on a really challenging golf course. I’ve got to think her confidence is sky high right now, and it should be.”
The next step for the Irish will likely be NCAA regionals, which will take place May 7-9 at Warren Golf Course on campus. There is a selection committee that decides which teams continue on, but the Irish are a virtual lock to keep going, Holt said.
Notre Dame will look to advance past NCAA regionals for the first time since 2011, but it might face an additional challenge.
“The challenging part about regionals for us is that it’s during finals week,” Holt said. “Our kids got a lot going on at that time. We’re trying to get all that done and still get some good practice in. It’s a challenge, but I think they’re up for it. They’re excited to play at home. It should give them a sense of confidence. ... You know the course, just go out and play it and execute it.”
