March 6, 2016
By Dan Colleran
OPELIKA, Ala. – The Notre Dame men’s golf team shot an 18-over par 306 to stand in 16th after the first day of play at Auburn University’s Tiger Invitational at the Grand National Lake Course.
Junior Matthew Rushton led the Irish with a two-over par 74. Starting the round on the 10th hole, Rushton opened with a pair of birdies before finishing his first nine holes at one-over par. He then closed the day by playing the front nine at one-over par as well.
Freshman Ben Albin, coming off a top-10 showing at the National Invitational Tournament, shot a three-over par 75.
Junior Blake Barens shot a six-over par 78, while freshman Miguel Delgado shot a seven-over par 79 to also score for the Irish. Freshman Kevin Conners finished with an 83.
It was a tough day for scoring on the Grand National Lake Course, with the stroke average for the 96 rounds coming in at 75.81.
Host Auburn leads the field (285), followed by Troy (290), Kennesaw State (291) and Minnesota (291). On the individual leader board, Auburn’s Matt Gilchrist has the 18-hole lead after posting a four-under par 68.
Round two will be played on Monday, March 7 with Notre Dame’s tee times beginning at 9:15 a.m. Live scoring will be provided by Golfstat.
— ND —
Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and men’s golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).