March 13, 2014
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — In 2013, the No. 22 University of Notre Dame women’s golf team finished sixth in the field of 16 at the Clover Cup at Longbow Golf Club. This year, the Fighting Irish are once again hosting the Clover Cup-their only “home” tournament of the spring season-at Longbow Golf Club in Mesa, Ariz. The event kicks off tomorrow, Mar. 14 and will run through Sunday with a field of 14 teams.
Head coach Susan Holt knows hosting a tournament has a lot of responsibility.
“Hosting this event has us doing more busy work than usual but it also gives us a chance to partner up with Longbow Golf Club and put on a first class collegiate golf tournament,” she explains. “The relationship we have built with the Longbow staff over the past two years has this event running smoothly so far, and I anticipate having a great event this year.”
Five golfers will be competing in the tournament for the Irish: senior Kristina Nhim, juniors Ashley Armstrong and Kelli Oride, sophomore Talia Campbell and freshman Jordan Ferreira.
The Fighting Irish are coming off an eighth place finish at the Central District Invitational Feb. 18. Campbell carded a 219 (70-76-73, +3) and finished in a tie for 25th place. Along with Campbell, Ferreira scored a one-below-par-score in her final round to boost her from being tied at 47th to finishing in a tie for 35th place.
Notre Dame looks to improve off the performance at the Central District Invitational heading into the Clover Cup-Holt is setting solid expectations for her golfers this weekend.
“Our goal for this event is to play three quality rounds of golf and pick up our first win of the year. Hosting this event on a neutral site-away from our home golf course-is a bit more challenging since we don’t have a true home course advantage, but we have been able to play the course several times this week since we came out early for our spring break,” she says. “The expectation is that our extra practice will have us manage our games better than the rest of the teams and give us a competitive edge.”
Aside from simply enjoying the nice weather in Mesa, Ariz., the team also decided to help out the local community this week. On Wednesday morning, the coaches and players went to Cardon Children’s Hospital. The morning away from golf gave them an opportunity to spend a few hours with patients in the activities center.
“We played board games, air hockey, basketball, putt putt golf and colored pictures. It was a great time for us being able to help the kids forget about their troubles and put smiles on their faces,” Holt says. “Our student-athletes are very active in the South Bend community with various outreach programs and to be able to give back to the Mesa community that is so supportive of our golf tournament is something we are very happy to do.”
The weather in South Bend has kept the team’s practices inside this spring. The Irish are taken advantage of this weather to be very active this week leading into the Clover Cup.
“We have been working as hard as we can on campus, but have really used our time wisely this week in Mesa and spent a lot of time practicing outside, which has been very productive,” Holt says.
TOURNAMENT COVERAGE:
- Participating Teams: FIU, Nebraska, Maryland, Colorado, East Carolina (No. 46), Mississippi, Louisville (No. 36), UNLV (No. 48), Kennesaw St., Michigan, Tulsa, Cincinnati, New Mexico St., and St. John’s.
- Location: Mesa, AZ Longbow Golf Club (Par 72; 6209 yards)
- Format: Three-day, 54-hole tournament with 18 holes to be played each day
- Tee Times: For Round 1 Tee times begin at 8:00 a.m. with half of the golfers starting off tee No. 1 and the other half off tee No. 10.
–Travis Bowman, Media Relations Intern
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