April 21, 2018
By Dan Colleran
Live Scoring| ACC Championship Central
GREENSBORO, N.C. — The Fighting Irish women’s golf team opened play at the 2018 Atlantic Coast Conference Championship by shooting a 12-over par 300 at the Grandover Resort & Conference Center East Course (par 72/6,122 yards) on Saturday.
With two rounds remaining, the Irish sit tied for sixth with Virginia Tech. Notre Dame is just four strokes behind fourth-place Miami (296) and nine strokes behind third-place Florida State (291). Duke (282) leads the field, which includes 11 teams in the top 55 of the latest Golfstat rankings, followed by Clemson (286).
“Today was a day to learn from mistakes and make the necessary adjustments for tomorrow,” head coach Susan Holt said after the round. “This course is tricky and we just have to do a better job of executing. If we can do that, I feel confident we can post four solid rounds tomorrow and move up a few spots.”
Junior Maddie Rose Hamilton led the Irish in round one, carding a one-over par 73. She played her first nine holes of the day, the back nine, at a three-under par clip (33) and closed with a 40 on the front nine. Her day included four birdies, 10 pars, three bogeys and a double.
Hamilton will enter the second round tied for 12th on the individual leaderboard. Duke’s Leona Maguire is in first place after opening the tournament with a 67, followed by Clemson’s Sydney Legacy, who shot a 69.
Emma Albrecht (74), Mia Ayer (75) and Abby Heck (78) also scored for the Irish. Albrecht, who is tied for 19th, had birdies at No. 1, 13 and 18.
For Ayer, a sophomore, and Heck, a freshman, it marked their first career ACC Championship rounds. Ayer played the par-5’s at a one-under par clip and had back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th holes. Heck played her first nine holes of the day at four-over par but bounced back with a 38 on the front, including a birdie on the eighth hole.
“Maddie, Emma and Mia played really solid rounds today,” Holt added. “Abby got down early in her round and hung in there so that was great to see.”
Notre Dame is playing in the ACC Championship for the fifth time but for the first time on Grandover’s East Course, where the championship was also contested in 1996, 1998 and 1999.
|
T6 |
Notre Dame |
300 |
300 |
|
T12 |
73 |
73 |
|
|
T19 |
Emma Albrecht (1) |
74 |
74 |
|
T23 |
Mia Ayer (2) |
75 |
75 |
|
T47 |
Abby Heck (4) |
78 |
78 |
|
58 |
Isabella DiLisio (3) |
82 |
82 |
UP NEXT: ACC CHAMPIONSHIP SECOND ROUND
Date: April 22, 2018
Format: 18 holes
Tee Times (split tees off No. 1 and No. 10): Notre Dame will be paired with Louisville and Virginia and once again start on hole No. 10, beginning with tee times at 9:50 a.m.
Location: Greensboro, North Carolina
Course (Par/Yardage): Grandover Resort & Conference Center — East Course (par 72/ 6,122-yards)
TV Coverage: ACC Network Extra | 2-4 pm on Sunday; 1-3:30 pm on Monday |
Dean Linke — Play-by-play | Donna Andrews — Analyst
Live Scoring: Golfstat.com
— ND —
Dan Colleran, Director of Athletics Communications at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).