Sept. 28, 2006
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s golf program has a storied 77-year tradition that includes a national championship (1944), 19 top-10 finishes at the NCAA Championship and a host of All-Americans and other golf greats, most notably Hall of Famer and eight-time U.S. Ryder Cup participant Billy Casper. However, even the most ardent Irish golf fan had to shake his head in amazement at the feat accomplished by two Notre Dame freshmen in the past two weeks.
Doug Fortner (Tustin, Calif./Foothill HS) and Carl Santos-Ocampo (Naples, Fla./Community School of Naples) both etched their names in the Irish men’s golf record books earlier this month when each man fired a hole-in-one in his first college tournament, with the double aces coming a mere 10 days apart. Fortner was first to act on Sept. 16 at the Gopher Invitational in Wayzata, Minn., when he stepped to the par-3 17th tee at the Spring Hill Golf Club, pulled out a pitching wedge and promptly sank his 139-yard shot. The hole-in-one was the highlight of Fortner’s second-round 71 in the tournament, and was the first ace for a Notre Dame golfer since Oct. 18, 2005, when current Irish senior co-captain Cole Isban (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian HS) did the same in the final round of The Prestige at PGA WEST in La Quinta, Calif.
Not to be outdone, Santos-Ocampo inked the rare “1” on his scorecard on Sept. 26 in the third round of the John Dallio Memorial, a tournament that saw Notre Dame field its “B” team. Using a 7-iron, the Irish rookie canned his tee shot from 175 yards on the par-3 third hole at Prairie Landing Golf Club in West Chicago, Ill., going on to register an even-par 72 in that final round. Comprehensive school records dating back to the mid-1960s don’t indicate another instance of two freshmen carding aces in the same season, let alone doing so in consecutive tournaments just days apart.
“Each ace was such a thrill,” third-year Notre Dame head coach Jim Kubinski said. “It’s great no matter when — or if — it happens, but to experience that in competition is icing on the cake. In each case, the shot contributed to a good score for the round, which is also exciting. Obviously, there are so many great players and great shots being struck in a tournament that an amount of luck is needed to actually hole out. However, I’d also like to think our hard work of late with the scoring irons (the short irons) also had something to do with it. I’m proud of our guys and the fact that each player holed it in their first college event gives us something extra to smile about.”
What made this month’s double aces even more ironic for the Irish is the fact that the past four Notre Dame golfers to record holes-in-one are active members of the program. Prior to Isban’s single last season, the most recent Irish golfer to register an ace was current assistant coach Steve Colnitis, who did so on Sept. 30, 2001, in the second round of the second tournament of his freshman season (the Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich.).
Notre Dame returns to the links Oct. 9-10 when it plays host to the inaugural Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic at the Warren Golf Course, located on the northeast edge of the Notre Dame campus.
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