April 20, 2017

By Leigh Torbin

CLINTON, S.C. – The crescendo which the Notre Dame men’s golf season has built to has arrived. The Irish will take part in the ACC Championships, Friday through Sunday at Musgrove Mill Golf Course in Clinton, South Carolina. The 54-hole event features single rounds of 18 holes each day.

The Irish are seeded 11th in the conference based on being No. 97 in the Golfstat rankings. As such, the Irish will be paired for the opening round on Friday with No. 10-seed Louisville and No. 12-seed Boston College. Tee times commence at 10 a.m. from the 10th hole. The ACC field includes seven of the country’s top 30 teams, led by No. 9 Wake Forest — the event’s top seed.

Notre Dame Lineup

The Irish will line up as such for the ACC Championships.

1. Blake Barens
2. Ben Albin
3. Kevin Conners
4. Davis Lamb
5. Matthew Rushton

About the Course

Musgrove Mill is a late replacement for its standard home of the Old North State Club of New London, North Carolina which had hosted the event each of the past 15 years. The Arnold Palmer-designed course known for dramatic changes in elevation will play as a 6,951-yard par-72 for the ACC Championship.

Coach Kubinski Says

“Musgrove Mill will be a strong test for all players this week. It’s not a long golf course but requires great focus on every shot, as shots hit off line are penalized more so than a typical set up. The greens are in very good shape but are also challenging, as you must play to the correct areas. I think we’ll see some good scores, even that 66 or 67 by a few players, but we’ll also see a wide range of scores this week throughout the field. I think a real key for teams will be to have all five players in play for a good score as deep into rounds as possible. That should give those teams a little room for a player who might have a tough hole, which can happen out here.

“Our team did a nice job putting a plan together during our practice round today. I saw good focus and a good energy, which has been a goal for us in each round. We’re coming off some strong play at home, so our confidence is where it needs to be. I think it’s just a matter of staying patient through the tournament and continuing our progress with successfully managing the emotions every player encounters during a round.”

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Leigh Torbin, athletics communications associate director at the University of Notre Dame, has been part of the Fighting Irish athletics communications team since 2013 and coordinates all media efforts for Notre Dame’s women’s basketball and men’s golf teams. A native of Framingham, Massachusetts, Torbin graduated from the University of Massachusetts in 1998 with a bachelor’s degree in sports management. He has previously worked full-time on the athletic communications staffs at Vanderbilt, Florida, Connecticut and UCF.