Oct. 18, 2005
LA QUINTA, Calif. – The Notre Dame men’s golf team put on an impressive final-round surge Tuesday afternoon at The Prestige at PGA WEST, carding a two-under par 286, the second-lowest team score of the day, to wind up tied for fifth place in the 18-team tournament, which was played in La Quinta, Calif., on the Greg Norman Course (par 72/7,156 yards) at the renowned PGA WEST facility. The Irish ended the 54-hole event at 16-over par 880 (296-298-286), putting them even with Pepperdine and six strokes ahead of No. 16 Texas, making the Longhorns the third member of the GCAA/Bridgestone Top 25 poll to be defeated by Notre Dame this season (No. 6 Florida and No. 23 Alabama are the others). No. 13 UCLA won the tournament with a score of 860 (-4), followed by ninth-ranked BYU (870), UC Irvine (872) and Illinois (875).
Tuesday’s finish marks the fourth consecutive top-six placement for the Irish to begin the 2005 fall season, and the sixth top-five finish in 11 tournaments since Jim Kubinski took over as head coach this past January. In addition, Notre Dame continued its recent trend of strong final-round play — in four tournaments this fall, the Irish own a 288.50 stroke average in the third round, essentially playing even-par golf on the final day of action.
“It was good for us to get another successful tournament under our belts,” Kubinski said. “We were able to pick up some more really neat wins against quality competition. Our finish was especially good to see after the way we opened things up. Our guys got on a nice run and it carried on throughout the day. We just need to get more from the back half of our lineup and we’ll be right in contention for the top spot.”
This week’s tournament had a special set of challenges for Notre Dame. First, the Irish dealt with a reconfigured lineup due to the absence of its low scorer, senior Mark Baldwin (Laconia, N.H./New Hampton Prep), who returned home to attend to a family emergency. Also, Kubinski arrived in southern California late Sunday and missed the practice round, but for a very good reason — he got married the previous day on the East Coast. Then, as the tournament teed off on Monday, intermittent thunderstorms played a critical role, with the second round being delayed briefly by lightning and then ultimately suspended by darkness. Teams returned to the course Tuesday morning to complete their second rounds before beginning the final round, most of which was contested in more favorable conditions.
Senior Scott Gustafson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie) continued his hot start to the 2005 fall season, firing a career-low 67 (-5) in the final round and rising up to a third-place tie at two-under par 214 (75-72-67), one shot out of a playoff for medalist honors, but good enough for his 13th career team-leading finish (tied for third in school history with Bryan Weeks, 1994-98). Gustafson’s 67, which also tied for the low individual round of the tournament, broke his previous career-low round of 68, which he shot on March 1, 2004, in the second round of the Cleveland Golf Invitational in Westlake Village, Calif. In four tournaments this fall, Gustafson has three top-10 finishes with a 71.44 stroke average in those events. He also has posted a 70.83 stroke average during the past two tournaments, with five of his last six rounds coming in at par or better.
“Scotty has played All-America quality golf so far this season,” Kubinski said. “He’s been so strong and consistent, and he did a great job of helping pick up the slack in Mark’s absence. The 67 he shot (Tuesday) was pretty impressive, considering the conditions and the kind of course it was. He also played his last 41 holes in six-under with 10 birdies and only four bogeys, which is very solid.”
Junior Cole Isban (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian) also turned in a sharp final round, firing a four-under par 68 and jumping 21 places to tie for 11th place at one-over par 217 (76-73-68). Isban’s round was highlighted by a hole-in-one at the par-3, 216-yard 13th hole, as he used a four-iron to cut his tee shot around a water hazard short and to the right of the green, landing the ball softly and rolling it into the cup. It was the first ace by a Notre Dame golfer since Sept. 30, 2001, when current Irish assistant coach Steve Colnitis pulled off the feat in the second round of the Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich., with a five iron on the par-3, 159-yard eighth hole at the Michigan Golf Course.
“That was the first hole-in-one I’ve ever witnessed in more than 20 years of playing and coaching golf,” Kubinski said. “Cole had doubled another par-3 earlier in the round with his normal right-to-left shot, so we suggested trying to go against his normal ball flight pattern. From the tee, I saw his shot disappear, but thought it had gone off the back edge of the green. Then, when we saw the group in front of us celebrating, we figured it out. Cole was pretty excited himself, jumping up and down.”
Perhaps lost in the thrill of the ace was the fact that Isban matched his career-low round of 68, which he had previously set on Sept. 19, 2004, in the final round of the Notre Dame Invitational/Central Regional Preview at Notre Dame’s own Warren Golf Course. In addition, the Irish tandem of Gustafson and Isban were the only two golfers to break 70 in Tuesday’s third round at The Prestige, and they were among only five golfers in the 90-man field to shoot under 70 at any point in the tournament. The other three sub-70 scores all came in Monday’s first round by Edward McGlasson of Colorado (67), Mark Matza of Yale (68) and Erik Flores of UCLA (69) — Flores tied Gustafson for third in the individual standings, while McGlasson finished tied for 17th place and Matza earned a share of 44th place.
Joining Matza in that tie was Irish sophomore Mike King (Sidney, Ohio/Sidney), who shot a 10-over par 226 (71-78-77). Sophomore Greg Rodgers (Phoenix, Md./St. Paul’s School) was one shot behind King, tied for 50th place at 11-over par 227 (75-75-77), while senior Eric Deutsch (Rochester, Minn./Lourdes) ended up in a 59th-place tie at 13-over par 229 (75-80-74).
Notre Dame will close out its 2005 fall schedule Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at the CordeValle Collegiate in San Martin, Calif., at the CordeValle Golf Club located just south of San Jose. The tournament will be hosted by 13th-ranked UCLA and will feature several other Top 25 teams, including No. 12 Augusta State (the defending NCAA Central Regional champion), No. 16 Texas and No. 18 USC.
— ND —
The Prestige at PGA WEST
Oct. 17-18, 2005
Greg Norman Course/PGA WEST (par 72/7,156 yards)
FINAL TEAM RESULTS (54-hole totals): 1. UCLA 860 (280-291-289); 2. BYU 870 (295-291-284); 3. UC Irvine 872 (291-292-289); 4. Illinois 875 (293-291-291); 5. (tie) NOTRE DAME 880 (296-298-286) and Pepperdine 880 (297-293-290); 7. Texas 886 (297-290-299) and Stanford 886 (291-296-299); 9. Northern Colorado 890 (296-299-295); 10. Colorado 892 (290-308-294); 11. Ohio State 897 (302-298-297) and Oregon 897 (298-306-293); 13. UC Davis 898 (306-291-301); 14. California 905 (297-306-302); 15. UC Santa Barbara 907 (313-296-298); 16. Pacific 910 (303-307-300); 17. Kansas 920 (309-304-307); 18. Yale 931 (295-319-317).
TOP FIVE INDIVIDUALS PLUS NOTRE DAME GOLFERS (of 90): 1. (tie) Tim Cha (UC Irvine) 213 (73-70-70) and Danny Zimmerman (Illinois) 213 (70-73-70); 3. (tie) Scott Gustafson (Notre Dame) 214 (75-72-67), Erik Flores (UCLA) 214 (69-75-70) and Chris Heintz (UCLA) 214 (70-73-71); 11. (tie) Cole Isban (Notre Dame) 217 (76-73-68); 44. (tie) Mike King (Notre Dame) 226 (71-78-77); 50. (tie) Greg Rodgers (Notre Dame) 227 (75-75-77); 59. (tie) Eric Deutsch (Notre Dame) 229 (75-80-74).