March 15, 2011
GREENSBORO, Ga. – The 26th-ranked University of Notre Dame men’s golf team lost by one shot to Yale at the Notre Dame-Yale Challenge Cup, falling 607-606 on Monday at the Reynold’s Plantation – Great Waters Course.
The Irish started out slowly, posting an opening round score of 305, before recovering in the afternoon round to card a 302. Yale, however, was able to hold off the Irish after putting together consecutive rounds of 303.
“We could try to dress it up but the fact is we made way too many double bogeys or worse, ruining a lot of good play,” stated Irish head coach Jim Kubinski. “You can’t beat Division I teams with scores over 300. We were 33 shots over our year stroke average, so there is work to do.”
Paul McNamara III (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) led the team overall on the day, finishing with a two-round 149 (+5). He opened the day carding the lowest round in the morning session, firing a one-over par 73. In the second round, he carried a one-under par score with him through 11 holes, but fell victim to a double and a triple bogey on his 12th and 13th holes to swing his score to four-over par (76).
Chris Walker (The Woodlands, Texas) opened his day with a three-over par 75, before finishing the afternoon with a 78 (+6), which was not counted to the team score.
Andrew Lane (Fairport, N.Y.), in his first competition since the Firestone Invitational, played two consistent rounds of golf carding a pair of six-over par 78 rounds. The second round 78 was not counted toward the team total.
Niall Platt (Santa Barbara, Calif.) was the final score counted during the morning session, posting a seven-over par 79. He improved on that tally by four shots in afternoon play, carding the second lowest score of the round for the Irish with a three-over par 75.
Juniors Tom Usher (Bradford, England) and Max Scodro (Chicago, Ill.) battled their games in the morning session, recording scores of 80 (+8) and 82 (+10), respectively. Both would recover in the afternoon round and see their scores counted toward the team total, as Scodro fired a 74 (+2) and Usher came in with a 77 (+5).
“This team is a team that will fight,” concluded Kubinski. “We’ll look to eliminate those big numbers and be ready for the Schenkel (Invitational).”
The Schenkel Invitational tees off Friday-Sunday in Statesboro, Ga., at the Forest Heights Country Club. Check back with und.com later in the week for a full preview of the tournament and its field.
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