Notre Dame hosted the sixth annual Clover Cup Tournament at Longbow Country Club in Mesa, Arizona, over the weekend. The Irish finished seventh in a loaded field of 15 with a +23 over the three days. No. 4 Arizona State led the way, with No. 25 Oklahoma, No. 2 Florida State, Houston and TCU rounding out the top five.
Hosted hundreds of miles away from South Bend, Notre Dame’s Clover Cup has become a staple tournament in the world of women’s college golf, routinely drawing the country’s premier programs to compete.
“This was the deepest field and best-ranked that we’ve ever had,” Irish head coach Susan Holt said. “Arizona State and Florida State are ranked in the top five and Oklahoma is ranked in the top 25. We ended up having a really great event.”
The tournament got underway with a familiar face leading for the Irish. Sophomore Emma Albrecht posted a +3 over the three days, good for first on the team and tied for 16th amongst the entire field. She never had a round worse than +2, and gave the Irish consistent golf over all three days of the tournament.
Sophomore Isabella DiLisio came out firing in the first round of the tournament, posting a 5-under-par 67 in the first round that included two eagles. This was the best round that any of the Irish posted over the whole weekend. It was also the third-lowest score that was posted that day, just one shot off Oklahoma’s sophomore Julienne Soo and Houston’s junior Courtney Tibiletti for the daily lead. DiLisio would cool off slightly as the tournament progressed, posting a 77 and 76 in the second and third rounds, respectively, to finish with a +4.
Senior Jordan Ferreira, freshman Mia Ayer and sophomore Maddie Rose Hamilton also put up scores that would end up counting for the Irish. Ferreira’s second-round 73 was the third-lowest any Irish golfer posted on the weekend, and she finished +7 for the tournament.
“We have a lot of balance on this team,” Holt said. “We have five great players that can go out and shoot well at any time. Isabella’s first round was a great round, and Emma’s been really solid all spring. For Emma to be that consistent is a real positive.”
The Irish were ranked eighth out of all the teams coming into the field before the tournament began, and ended up finishing in seventh.
“Overall, I thought play was pretty good,” Holt said. “I think we all certainly hoped we would play a little bit better. We’re still not as consistent as we need to be throughout our lineup, so we’re working to get better.”
The Irish will get a weekend off from competition, then travel to Wake Forest to participate in the Bryan National Collegiate tournament hosted by Wake Forest.
“That’s going to be a great field, so we need to take advantage and beat a few teams ranked ahead of us,” Holt said. “With our national ranking, we need to capitalize on this tournament to improve our ranking. We had practice today, so we’ll keep working on the things we need to get better at.”
The Irish will next compete on March 31 in the Wake Forest Bryan National Collegiate.
