April 5, 2003
Laredo, Texas – The Notre Dame men’s golf team sizzled in 90-degree temperatures in the final round of play at the Border Olympics Saturday afternoon. The Irish fired a two-under par 286 as a team to move from 19th after 36 holes to a 14th-place finish at the par 72, 7,125-yard Laredo Country Club. Notre Dame’s 885 total (302-297-286) left them 26 strokes out of first-place in the tournament.
Only the host school, Texas A&M shot a better final round as the Aggies fired a 10-under par 278 to move from sixth into a first-place tie with Arkansas as both schools fired five-under par 859 for the weekend. Texas A&M took the tournament title by winning a sudden death playoff by one stroke on the fourth playoff hole. Arkansas shot rounds of 276, 289 and 294 for 54 holes. Texas A&M opened with 286 and 295 before its brilliant final round.
San Diego State and Baylor tied for third, two strokes back with 861 totals. The Aztecs shot 289 on the final day after rounds of 288 and 284 on Friday. The Baylor Bears opened with 285 and 290 and finished with a 286 for their 861. Kansas State rounded out the top five with an 869 (288-293-288).
The Irish had three golfers shoot under par in the final round led by Scott Gustafson’s (Fr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) two-under par 70. Tommy Balderston (Fr., Boca Raton, Fla.) and Mark Baldwin (Fr., Laconia, N.H.) had one-under par totals of 71. Eric Deutsch (Fr., Rochester, Minn.) had the best 54-hole finish for the Irish as he shot a three-over par 219 that tied him for 28th. That put him 14 strokes behind Arkansas’ Andrew Dahl who shot a final-round 69 on his way to an 11-under par 205 (65-71-69). He won the tournament by four strokes over Stephen Reed (Texas A&M) and Ryan Baca (Baylor) who tied for second with seven-under par 209. Reed had rounds of 70, 70 and 69 and Baca shot 71, 68 and 70 for his 209.
San Diego State’s Lars Johansson was fourth with a 211 (70-67-74) and Daniel Summerhays of Brigham Young finished fifth with a 212 (72-71-69).
Following Deutsch for the Irish was freshman Mark Baldwin who tied for 38th with a 220. After shooting an opening round 79, Baldwin finished with rounds of 70 and 71 for his four-over par 220. Scott Gustafson turned in a six-over par 222 (76-76-70) to tie for 50th. Tommy Balderston tied for 77th with a 228 (78-79-71) and Brandon Lunke (Sr., San Antonio, Texas) closed out the Notre Dame scorers as he tied for 81st with a 229 (79-75-75).
Notre Dame returns to action next weekend, April 12-13, when the Irish play at the Kepler Invitational at Ohio State. The 54-hole tournament will be played at the Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio with action each day beginning at 8:00 a.m.
FINAL TEAM RESULTS (54-hole totals): **1. Texas A&M 286-295-278-859; 2. Arkansas 276-289-294-859; t3. San Diego State 288-284-289-861; Baylor 285-290-286-861; 5. Kansas State 288-293-288-869; 6. Southern Methodist 287-295-289-871; 7. Brigham Young 291-286-297-874; 9. Colorado State 297-284-295-876; 10. Iowa State 295-293-289-877; 11. Lamar 289-288-302-879; 12. Texas-Arlington 300-290-290-880; 13. Washington State 309-286-289-884; 14. Notre Dame 302-297-286-885; t15. Rice 300-292-295-887; Texas-San Antonio 292-296-299-887; 17. Texas Tech 295-301-292-888; 18. Southwest Texas St. 297-301-292-890; 19. Rhode Island 295-292-307-894; 20. Louisiana-Lafayette 294-316-300-910.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (of 100): 1. Andrew Dahl (Arkansas) 65-71-69-205; t2. Stephen Reed (Texas A&M) 70-70-69-209; Ryan Baca (Baylor) 71-68-70-209; 4. Lars Johansson (San Diego St.) 70-67-74-211; 5. Daniel Summerhays (BYU) 72-71-69-212; t6. Kevin Oswald (Iowa State) 72-72-69-213; Martin Laird (Colorado State) 75-66-72-213; Nicholas Loar (SMU) 69-72-72-213; t9. Mark Van Hoose (Lamar) 69-66-79-214; Andrew Paar (Texas A&M) 71-72-71-214; t11. Ryan Camp (Washington State) 78-71-66-215; Brock Mulder (SMU) 71-71-73-215.
NOTRE DAME PLAYERS (of 100): t28. Eric Deutsch 69-76-74-219; t38. Mark Baldwin 79-70-71-220; t50. Scott Gustafson 76-76-70-222; t77. Tommy Balderston 78-79-71-228; t81. Brandon Lunke 79-75-75-229.