April 10, 2017
By Robby Hamman
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — The University of Notre Dame women’s golf team tees off the 2017 postseason at 8 a.m. (ET) Thursday in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Championship at The Reserve Golf Club (par 72/6,192 yards) in Pawley’s Island, South Carolina.
This weekend’s conference championship caps off the fourth ACC season for the Fighting Irish, who are among 10 conference teams currently ranked in the top 75, according to Golfstat. This year’s field is very deep, as all 12 teams enter in the top 100 of the rankings.
ACC Championship
Dates: April 13-15, 2017
Format: 54 holes (18 holes Thursday-Saturday)
Tee Times: 8 a.m. ET Thursday; 8-11:10 a.m. ET Friday; 8:30-10 a.m. ET Saturday (begin on No. 1 Thursday-Friday; split-tee start Saturday). Exact Friday and Saturday tee times determined by team standings at close of prior round.
Location: Pawley’s Island, South Carolina
Course (Par/Yardage): The Reserve Golf Club (par 72/6,192 yards)
TV: ACC Network Extra (2 p.m. ET Friday; 1 p.m. ET Saturday)
Tournament Field (in order of latest Golfstat ranking): Florida State (4), Duke (10), Wake Forest (14), Miami (18), North Carolina State (24), North Carolina (37), Clemson (41), Louisville (43), Virginia (62), NOTRE DAME (67), Boston College (79) and Virginia Tech (94).
Notre Dame Lineup: Emma Albrecht, Maddie Rose Hamilton, Isabella DiLisio, Jordan Ferreira, Alison Snakard.
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
Twitter: @NDwomensGolf
Notre Dame has finished in the top five at its conference tournament in eight of its first 10 seasons under head coach Susan Holt (left), highlighted by three titles during its final six years in the BIG EAST (2008, 2011, 2013).
Here’s a look at a number of things you need to know as Notre Dame steps to the No. 1 tee at The Reserve on Thursday morning:
- Notre Dame has finished in the top five in 12 of its previous 14 conference tournament appearances, dating back to the inaugural BIG EAST Conference Championship in 2003.
- The conditions should be perfect for all three days of golf at the ACC Championships, as the forecast calls for mid to upper 70s all three days. The first two rounds are supposed to be partly cloudy with winds under 10 miles per hour. Saturday’s final round is predicted to be mostly sunny with winds up to 14 miles per hour.
- The Irish return four of five scorers from the 2016 ACC Championship. Of the four returnees, senior Jordan Ferreira is the lone golfer with more than one year of conference tournament experience in this year’s lineup.
- Three of Notre Dame’s top-10 all-time lowest, single-round team scores have come in the conference championship. The Irish carded a 285 (-3; 5th all-time) and 282 (-6; 4th) in the second and third round, respectively, at the 2012-13 BIG EAST Championship. Notre Dame shot a 287 (-1) in the first round of the 2014-15 ACC Championship, which is tied for the seventh-lowest team score in program history.
- Entering its fourth ACC Championship, Notre Dame is seeking its first ACC tournament title and sixth conference championship overall. Notre Dame’s most recent conference title came in the 2012-13 BIG EAST Championship. Since then, the Irish have finished in the top six spots in two of the past three years at the ACC Championship.
- Former captain and 2016 graduate Talia Campbell had been Notre Dame’s top finisher in each of the past four conference tournament appearances (tied for first at the 2013 BIG EAST Championship; tied for 13th at the 2014 ACC Championship; tied for 11th at the 2015 ACC Championship; placed ninth at last year’s ACC Championship). Campbell became the first Irish golfer to be the team’s top finisher in four straight conference tournaments. Campbell also became the fifth Notre Dame golfer to post four consecutive top-15 finishes in conference tournament play, joining a quartet who did so under the BIG EAST banner — Katie Brophy (2003-06), Noriko Nakazaki (2004-07), Annie Brophy (2007-10) and Becca Huffer (2009-12).
- After spending their first two rounds of the 2014 tournament getting familiar with the challenging Sedgefield Country Club course (carding scores 306 and 303), the Fighting Irish have shot 296 or lower in each of their last four rounds at the ACC Championship, including an opening-round 287 (-1) last year that was the third-lowest single-round conference tournament score in program history (and Notre Dame’s best-ever first-round total in a league championship).
The ACC will provide live scoring of the ACC Championship through the Golfstat web site (Golfstat.com), with in-progress updates also provided through the Fighting Irish women’s golf Twitter feed (@NDwomensGolf). In addition, the ACC Network Extra will televise portions of the second and third rounds live beginning at 2 p.m. (ET) Friday and 1 p.m. (ET) Saturday.
— ND —