While their fate won‘t officially be sealed until April 27, the Notre Dame‘s women‘s golf season all but certainly came to an end this weekend at the ACC Championships at the Reserve Golf Club of Pawleys Island in South Carolina. The Irish finished the weekend shooting 919 (+55), shooting 310-304-305 over the weekend.
The official NCAA tournament field won‘t be announced for about another week. But considering the Irish finished twelfth out of twelve teams at the Reserve Golf Club last weekend, it‘s all but a formality that they won‘t be chosen this year. The Irish season did have some high points, registering three top-five finishes, including a No. 2 place at the University of Wisconsin invite in September. But the spring semester just didn‘t break their way. The Irish didn‘t finish higher than 10th in any of their four tournaments in 2022.
Granted, it‘s not like things are all doom and gloom for Notre Dame. Sophomore Chloe Schiavone had a very strong showing. She finished tied for 24th individually, shooting 76-74-74 for a 224 on the weekend and a +8 finish. Freshman Montgomery Ferreira matched Schiavone‘s 76 in the opening round. And junior Jessica Meyers bounced back from a rough start to the tournament with a 75 on day two. That marked the lowest score for the Irish outside of Schiavone‘s two 74s. She also scored for the Irish on the final day with a 77. And the Irish did finish the tournament on a very strong note. Notre Dame finished 8th on the final day with a 305 score. That put them just five strokes back of the No. 3 team that day, North Carolina.
While it may not have been the weekend or season the Irish were hoping for, there are still plenty of reasons to be optimistic. The ACC tournament provided a learning experience for a young Irish team that could return all eight of its members if senior Claire Albrecht uses her extra year of eligibility granted because of COVID. This was the very first full year of college for everyone but Albrecht due to COVID as well. It all bodes well for the chances that coach Susan Holt will be able to look back on this disappointing finish with a much happier perspective a year from now.
