The month of March did not treat the Notre Dame men’s golf team particularly kindly. After starting their season with a respectable tie for sixth place in their season-opening tournament on Feb. 16, the Irish finished in the back half of the field in their two competitions during March. With the postseason looming, getting off to a strong start in the month of April was imperative to get the Irish in a good place for the ACC Championship, which starts in less than three weeks.
But their first of two regular season April tournaments did not go as planned. Instead, the Irish came in 12th out of 15 teams at the Augusta Haskins Award Invitational. Held at Forest Hills Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, the Irish were unable to get into a groove, ultimately recording their worst finish at a competition this year.
Notre Dame was unable to record a signature effort in any of the three rounds to vault up the leaderboard. The Irish shot a 299 on the opening round, placing them in 11th. A score of 293 in the second round kept the Irish in the same position. And though the Irish slightly improved in the third round, shooting 292, that left them in a tie for 13th for the round and dropped them one place in the final standings.
Still, there were some encouraging individual performances for the Irish to take away from the weekend. Five of Notre Dame’s six golfers recorded at least one round at par (72) or better. Freshman Nate Stevens led the way for the Irish, finishing in a tie for 23rd with a strong 1 under par score for the tournament. Stevens’ 70 in the opening round was Notre Dame’s best 18-hole score of the invitational.
Senior Palmer Jackson was the only other Irish golfer to finish in the top 50, finishing in a tie for 40th. Jackson and Stevens were the only Irish players to record multiple rounds of par or better, as Jackson shot an even 72 in both of the first two rounds. Another underclassman, sophomore Owen Mullen, also flashed his skills over the weekend. Mullen’s 71 in the closing round was Notre Dame’s second-lowest single-round score of the weekend. It was also Notre Dame’s best score during the final round.
The Irish will still have one more chance to get things in the right direction before the postseason arrives. They are set to compete in the Thunderbird Invitational at Papago Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona, from April 14-15.
