The Chattanooga Classic, held at Council Fire Golf Club in Chattanooga, TN, from April 2-4, was important to the Notre Dame women's golf team for a couple of reasons. First and foremost, it was their final tournament before the upcoming ACC Championships. At a time of the year when the Irish need to be at their best, the team came into Chattanooga following two of their three lowest finishes of the season. They had previously placed 10th at the Clover Cup and eighth at the Florida State Matchup during mid-March. Though those scores are a reflection of the team as a whole, the Irish were certainly hoping someone could break out in Chattanooga to help get things back on track.
That person turned out to be senior Lauren Beaudreau. Beaudreau, who holds the program's all-time record with a 206 (10 under par) performance at the Westbrook Spring Invitational in 2020, made a serious run at her own record this week. She set the tone for the tournament with a 68 in the opening round. That score put her in first place at the time. Beaudreau continued her strong play over the final 36 holes. The Lemont, IL, native finished with an overall score of 211. That was good enough for five under par and third place overall. Only Xavier's Emma McMyler (nine under par) and SMU's Michelle Zhang (seven under) finished ahead of her.
Junior Chloe Schiavone turned in a strong performance of her own. Both she and Beaudreau scored a 71 in one round and a 72 in another. Schiavone bounced back from a 75 in the middle round, finishing the tournament with a 71 (one under par) for a total score of 218. That tied her with Yale's Alexis Kim for 16th place.
Thanks in large part to that dynamic duo, the Irish recorded their first top-five finish since the Columbia Classic nearly two months prior. Notre Dame's overall score of 876 put them in fifth place. The Irish finished just one stroke back of fourth place South Florida and six back on second place Xavier. SMU ran away with the tournament, as their overall score of 850 was 20 fewer strokes than Xavier. The Irish played consistent, mistake-free golf for most of the competition. Their 171 pars were tied with Colorado State for third most, and just three fewer than Xavier's tournament-leading 174. Both the Irish as a team and three of their five competing golfers turned in their lowest score of the tournament during the final round, showing improvement and building some momentum for the postseason.
With this, Notre Dame's regular season officially comes to a close. The Irish competed in 10 events during the 2022-23 season, which began back on Sept. 18-20 at the Badger Invitational in Madison, WI. Notre Dame racked up five top-five finishes during the season. Their best came at the season-opening Badger Invitational, where they placed second. They will be back in action for the ACC Championships on April 13-16. The championships will take place at Sedgefield Country Club in Greensboro, NC.
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