Sept. 30, 2008
Saint Mary’s (Calif.) Invitational Final Results 
PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — Despite a third consecutive consistent round, the Notre Dame men’s golf team ended up in seventh place at the Saint Mary’s Invitational, which concluded Tuesday at the famed Poppy Hills Golf Course (par 71/6,639 yards) in scenic Pebble Beach, Calif. The Irish carded a 54-hole score of 17-over par 869 (288-291-290) and finished 14 shots back of tournament champion San Francisco, although just five strokes separated fourth from seventh place in the 17-team field.
The three-round score of 869 ties for the 12th-lowest mark in school history and best by a Notre Dame squad since last year’s Coca-Cola Duke Classic, when the Irish shot 857 (-7). Notre Dame displayed exceptional consistency throughout this week’s tournament in Pebble Beach, leading the field with 173 pars and finishing third at the tournament in par-3 scoring (3.11) and par-4 scoring (4.16).
Junior Doug Fortner (Tustin, Calif./Foothill) was the top Irish golfer at the Saint Mary’s Invitational, tying for sixth place at one-under par 212 (69-70-73). It’s the fourth career top-10 finish for Fortner, who matched the second-lowest 54-hole score of his career and the 13th-lowest tournament total in school history (he shot 210 at last year’s Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic). Domingo Jojola of San Francisco held on to claim medalist honors at six-under par 207, one shot better than UC Irvine’s Bryan Harris in the 90-man field.
Fortner was one of four Notre Dame golfers to finish in the top 30 this week. Sophomore Jeff Chen (Walnut, Calif./Los Altos) continues to show solid improvement this year, earning a share of 23rd place with a career-low score of five-over par 218 (74-72-72). Chen’s previous-best tournament score came at last year’s Rutgers Invitational (a “B” team event), where he carded a score of 219 (+6).
Freshman Max Scodro (Chicago, Ill./Notre Dame (Ariz.) Prep) made the most of his debut with the Irish travel squad, tying for 30th place at six-over par 219 (71-76-72). The long-driving Scodro, who finished second in par-5 scoring this week (4.50) also fired the lone eagle for Notre Dame at the tournament, that coming in Tuesday’s final round. Junior Carl Santos-Ocampo (Naples, Fla./Community School of Naples) played as an individual competitor in Pebble Beach (his score didn’t count to the team total), joining Scodro in 30th place with a career-low six-over par 219 (75-72-72) — his prior low tourney score had been 221 (+8) at last year’s Charleston Southern Spring Kickoff (another “B” team event).
Sophomore Connor Alan-Lee (Solana Beach, Calif./La Jolla Country Day School) was among a group tied for 42nd place with a career-low score of eight-over par 221 (74-73-74), four strokes better than his old personal best that he shot when playing as an individual competitor at the ’07 Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic. Alan-Lee also led this week’s field with 40 pars, with Santos-Ocampo tying for second with 38 pars and Chen sharing fifth place with 37 pars.
Sophomore Tyler Hock (Ocala, Fla./Forest) turned in a solid final round on Tuesday, rising up to tie for 58th place at 12-over par 225 (75-77-73).
Notre Dame returns to the links next Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 6-7, for the third annual Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic at the Warren Golf Course on the north edge of the Notre Dame campus — admission is free. Live in-progress scoring will be available on the Golfstat web site (www.golfstat.com), while complete results will be posted on the official Notre Dame athletics web site (www.UND.com) and the Notre Dame Sports Hotline (574-631-3000) at the conclusion of each day’s action.
— ND —
Saint Mary’s Invitational
Sept. 29-30, 2008
Poppy Hills Golf Course (Pebble Beach, Calif.)
Par 71/6,639 yards
FINAL TEAM RESULTS (54 holes): 1. San Francisco 855 (293-279-283); 2. Wisconsin 860 (296-281-283); 3. UC Santa Barbara 861 (294-288-279); 4. UC Irvine 864 (297-289-278); 5. Cal State Northridge 867 (295-281-291); 6. Texas-Arlington 868 (292-287-289); 7. NOTRE DAME 869 (288-291-290); 8. Santa Clara 875 (295-288-292); 9. (tie) Long Beach State 876 (299-293-284) and Loyola Marymount 876 (306-296-274); 11. Akron 883 (301-288-294); 12. Nebraska 884 (297-299-288); 13. Miami (Ohio) 885 (304-290-291); 14. UC Riverside 888 (306-277-305); 15. Saint Mary’s (CA)-B 892 (303-297-292); 16. Gonzaga 893 (296-297-300); 17. Saint Mary’s (CA) 897 (306-289-302).
TOP 5 INDIVIDUAL PLUS NOTRE DAME GOLFERS (of 90): 1. Domingo Jojola (USF) 207 (71-66-70); 2. Bryan Harris (UCI) 208 (70-71-67); 3. (tie) Matt Grush (UCSB) 211 (70-71-70), Chris Cunningham (USF) 211 (75-68-68) and Jordan Elsen (UW) 211 (72-69-70); 6. (tie) Doug Fortner (ND) 212 (69-70-73); 23. (tie) Jeff Chen (ND) 218 (74-72-72); 30. (tie) Max Scodro (ND) 219 (71-76-72) and Carl Santos-Ocampo (ND)* 219 (75-72-72); 42. (tie) Connor Alan-Lee (ND) 221 (74-73-74); 58. (tie) Tyler Hock (ND) 225 (75-77-73).
* – competed as individual participant (scores did not counted to team total)