July 29, 2005
BENTON HARBOR, Mich. – Cole Isban, a rising junior on the Notre Dame men’s golf team and a South Bend native and Mishawaka Marian High School graduate, fired a final-round 69 Friday afternoon at Point O’Woods Golf and Country Club to finish 13th (283, +3) and qualify for the 16-competitor match-play portion of the 103rd Western Amateur.
His second round under par in the tournament allowed Isban to finish with a score of 283 (69-71-74-69) after 72 holes of play, which saw him one shot clear of a group of five golfers that would need extra holes to sort out the final three qualifying spots.
Isban stood at even par (140) heading into Friday, but he struggled early, going out in 39 before birdying four of the first five holes on his back nine. A double-bogey and a pair of late bogeys saw him end the third round with a 74, which placed him in a tie for 20th (+4) with 18 holes left to play. He made 13 pars, two bogeys, and three birdies in his final round, birdying the par-four eighth (his 17th hole after starting on the back nine) to get to +3 and avoid the playoff for the final match-play spots.
A 2005 PING All-Midwest Region selection, Isban led the Irish in scoring average (74.17) in 2004-05. Last summer, he became the first South-Bend-area golfer since 2001 to make the 36-hole cut at the Western Amateur.
Senior-to-be Scott Gustafson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie HS) shot rounds of 73 and 71 on Friday to finish two strokes out of the playoff and in a tie for 24th with a six-over-par 286 (70-72-73-71). His classmate, Mark Baldwin (Laconia, N.H./New Hampton Prep), shot 72 and 73 to finish tied for 39th with an 11-over-par 291 (73-73-72-73).
Two others Notre Dame players also played in the Western Amateur, but did not make the cut. Senior-to-be Eric Deutsch (Rochester, Minn./Lourdes HS) was in contention after an opening-round 73, but wound up at 12-over par 152 (73-79). Meanwhile, rising sophomore Mike King (Sidney, Ohio/Sidney HS) was one shot behind Deutsch with a 13-over-par 153 (74-79).
A prestigious national tournament since its founding in 1899, the Western Amateur has been won by such legendary figures as Jack Nicklaus (1961), Tiger Woods (1994), Phil Mickelson (1991), Justin Leonard (1992 and ’93), and Ben Crenshaw (1973). Last year’s champion, Ryan Moore, also was the medalist at the NCAA Championships and won the U.S. Amateur Championship in 2004 before completing his career at UNLV this past spring and turning pro last month. He has competed in six PGA Tour events this season, including The Masters and the U.S. Open.
Winning the tournament requires playing championship-caliber golf for five straight days, and many players consider the format the most challenging in amateur golf. After 36 holes of stroke play over two days, the field is cut to the low 50 and ties. The field then plays 36 more holes of stroke play in one day, with the players recording the low 16 qualifying scores continuing on in match play. Two rounds of match play on each of the final two days determine the champion.
For more information on the Western Amateur, see thewesternamateur.com. For live scoring via Golfstat, see www.golfstatresults.com//public/leaderboards/player/static/player617.html.