Feb. 13, 2017
By Leigh Torbin
DADE CITY, Fla. – For the second year in a row, the Notre Dame men’s golf team will compete for the championship of the Yestingsmeier Match Play event as the Irish defeated both DePaul and Ball State on Monday by 4-2 scores. No. 2-seed Notre Dame will face No. 4-seed Seton Hall for the title at 8:30 a.m. on Tuesday at the Lake Jovita South Course in Dade City, Florida.
Notre Dame’s depth pulled it through on Monday in the quarterfinal contest against the Blue Demons and the semifinal against the Cardinals. Miguel Delgado (third-position), John Fellito (fifth) and Davis Lamb (sixth) all won both of their matches.
In 2016, the Irish advanced to this stage but lost to Eastern Michigan. Notre Dame will aim to take the proverbial next step on Tuesday and, in the process, claim the team’s third team championship of the 2016-17 campaign.
Notre Dame Beats Blue Demons
The Irish claimed a 4-2 victory over DePaul in Monday’s quarterfinals. Here are the results.
1. Freddy Thomas (DU) def. Blake Barens (ND), 4 and 2
2. Jonathan Hewitt (DU) def. Ben Albin (ND), 1 up
3. Miguel Delgado (ND) def. James Lelliott (DU), 2 and 1
4. Hunter Ostrom (ND) def. Bobby Thomas (DU), 2 and 1
5. John Felitto (ND) def. Kyle Vincze (DU), 2 and 1
6. Davis Lamb (ND) def. Garret Buckley (DU), 1 up
Notre Dame Beats Cardinals
The Irish claimed a 4-2 victory over Ball State in the semifinals. Here are the results.
1. Blake Barens (ND) def. Johnny Watts (BSU), 1 up
2. Michael VanDeventer (BSU) def. Ben Albin (ND), 2 and 1
3. Miguel Delgado (ND) def. Michael Makris (BSU), 1 up
4. Timothy Wiseman (BSU) def. Hunter Ostrom (ND), 3 and 2
5. John Felitto (ND) def. Keegan McKinney (BSU), 2 up
6. Davis Lamb (ND) def. Quentyn Carpenter (BSU), 7 and 6
Coach Kubinski Says
“I’m proud of the effort of our entire lineup today. Match play is a format that almost always lends itself to a tight finish. We knew we’d be pushed today. Our guys very much responded. I think we had four or five players under par this morning (against DePaul) and all six this afternoon (against Ball State). Today was a great start to our spring campaign but we need to come back tomorrow with another strong effort.
“Our freshmen played extremely well today. Davis and John won both matches, which included Davis one down with two to go this morning and John being three down at one point this afternoon. They showed maturity and heart. Hunter split his matches but played as well. He just ran into a six birdie and an eagle effort by his opponent this afternoon. I like the way all three handled themselves out there, which is what we were looking to see this week.
“Blake and Miguel really fought hard this afternoon to put us into the final. Both were all square late and came out on top, which pushed us to 4-2. They had strong efforts.”
About the Format
Typical match play scoring rules apply for the individual matches. The two golfers will play 18 holes with no cumulative stroke count kept, rather who wins each hole. The winner of the most holes wins the match. The six individual matches are then added up to compute a team score and decide which University is the victor. If there is a 3-3 tie among the six matches, a tiebreaker based upon holes won and margins will be implemented.
About the Course
The Lake Jovita Golf and Country Club is located in Dade City, Florida, about a half an hour northeast of Tampa. The par-72 Lake Jovita South Course is playing at 7,153 yards for this event.
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Leigh Torbin, athletics communications associate director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2013 and coordinates all media efforts for Notre Dame’s women’s basketball and men’s golf teams. A native of Framingham, Massachusetts, Torbin graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management. He has previously worked full-time on the athletic communications staffs at Vanderbilt, Florida, Connecticut and UCF.