Sophomore Josh Sandman fired a final-round 72 and finished tied for 49th place at five-over par 221 for the Administaff Augusta State Invitational, which concluded Sunday in Evans, Ga.

Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic Tees Off Monday

Oct. 7, 2006

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Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic
Monday-Tuesday, Oct. 9-10, 2006
9:15 a.m. (ET) Mon./8:24 a.m. Tues.
Warren Golf Course
Notre Dame, Ind.
Par 70/7,011 yards

Notre Dame Prepares For First Home Event Since 2005 After an up-and-down performance at its season-opening tournament three weeks ago, Notre Dame will hope for some home cooking when it plays host to the inaugural Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic on Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 9-10) at the Warren Golf Course on the Notre Dame campus. It will be the first home tournament for the Irish since the 2005 NCAA Central Regional and their first regular-season event since the 2004 Notre Dame Invitational/Central Regional Preview.

The Irish teed off their 2006-07 season with a ninth-place finish at the Gopher Invitational on Sept. 16-17 in Wayzata, Minn. The tournament was plagued by cold, blustery conditions that sent scores sky-high and played havoc for the young Notre Dame lineup that shot at 54-over par 918 (313-295-310). However, conditions should be significantly more benign for the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic, which will serve as the final home tournament for two-time all-Midwest Region selection (and South Bend native) Cole Isban, as well as Irish co-captain and Plymouth, Ind., resident Adam Gifford, and fellow senior Shane Sigsbee.

Quoting Coach Kubinski…
“”This weekend is as exciting a golf weekend as any collegiate player could ever dream of. Our golf course is in fantastic shape. There’s not a cloud anywhere in site all weekend. We have some of the most talented teams in the country coming in to compete against us and, to top it all of, every team will enjoy a football game in storied Notre Dame Stadium. If you can’t get excited about what’s about to take place here, well, may the leprechaun smile on you!

“We’re looking forward to competing again after a couple of weeks off. Both Cole and Josh give us a great deal of firepower at the top of the lineup, and Doug (Fortner) has played very, very solidly since arriving. Overall, I think we have a very balanced team, which helps on a challenging golf course. If we can just believe in our abilities (i.e. trust them and stay positive), we’ll have an opportunity to win come Tuesday afternoon.”

Dates and Times
Teams will play two rounds (36 holes) on Monday, with the opening round teeing off via a shotgun start at 9:15 a.m. (EDT). The second round will begin within an hour following the conclusion of round one. Competitors will then return to the course Tuesday for the third and final round, with a split-tee start from the first and 10th holes (based upon the 36-hole standings) starting at 8:24 a.m. (EDT).

Following The Irish
Live scoring for the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic will be available through the Golfstat web site (www.golfstat.com). Complete results following each day’s action also will be posted on the official Notre Dame athletics web site (www.und.com). In addition, the latest information from the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic, including results, scheduling updates and weather delays, will be available on the Notre Dame Sports Hotline (574-631-3000).

New this year is the Irish ALERT system, which provides fans with regular updates on Notre Dame’s progress at the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic through text messages sent right to their cell phone. For more information or to register for this free service, visit the official Notre Dame athletics web site (www.und.com).

The Tournament Format
A total of 12 five-man teams (67 participants, including seven golfers who will compete on an individual basis) will be taking part in the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic.

Conventional collegiate golf team scoring rules will apply, with the lowest four scores in the five-man lineup for each round counting toward the team total. Scores by golfers competing on an individual basis do not count to the team score.

The Teams
Besides Notre Dame, the remaining teams in the field for the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic are: Augusta State, Baylor, College of Charleston, Florida State, Illinois State, Lamar, Louisiana-Monroe, Rice, Vanderbilt, Virginia and Western Kentucky.

According to the latest GCAA/Bridgestone Top 25 poll (released Sept. 28), No. 24 Lamar will be the highest-ranked team in this week’s field. Four other teams received votes in the current coaches’ poll – Vanderbilt (23 votes; 37th place), Florida State (20 votes; tie-39th place), Augusta State (two votes; tie-60th place) and Baylor (two votes; tie-60th place).

Meanwhile, this week’s ratings in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index show that four of the top 50 teams will be on hand for the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic. Leading the way is No. 28 Lamar, followed closely by No. 31 Florida State. Also on the first page of the Golfweek ratings are No. 44 Augusta State and No. 49 Vanderbilt. Baylor is just outside the top 50 at 52nd, while Notre Dame is presently ranked 70th by Golfweek.

In addition, the year-end Golfstat rankings from the 2005-06 season indicate five of this week’s participants appearing in that service’s Top 50. Lamar is tops at No. 8, with Baylor standing 37th, Florida State at No. 42, Notre Dame in 47th place and Augusta State at No. 49.

Head-To-Head
Lamar is the only team Notre Dame already has faced this season, with the Irish finishing 16 shots behind the Cardinals at the Gopher Invitational on Sept. 16-17.

Last year, Notre Dame matched up with eight of the other 11 teams in the field at the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic, sporting a combined 3-13 (.188) record against those squads (taking on all but College of Charleston, Vanderbilt and Western Kentucky). The Irish record in 2005-06 vs. the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic field breaks down as follows: Augusta State (0-2), Baylor (0-3), Florida State (1-3), Illinois State (0-1), Lamar (0-1), Louisiana-Monroe (1-0), Rice (0-1) and Virginia (1-2).

The Course
A par-70, 7,011-yard layout designed by PGA Tour veteran (and two-time Masters champion) Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore, the Warren Golf Course on the Notre Dame campus is based on a traditional walkable Irish and American courses favored around the turn of the 20th century. The course winds its way through 250 wooded acres and is based on subtleties rather than special effects, including small, undulating greens and numerous strategically-placed bunkers (all of which were recently renovated as part of a course-wide improvement project).

The Warren Golf Course has been rated one of the nation’s top 15 collegiate courses by Golf Digest (Sept. 2005 issue) and has played host to several championship events. Among the more notable tournaments to be played at the course since its debut six years ago are: the 2005 NCAA Central Regional, the 2004 U.S. Amateur sectional qualifier, two Western Amateur qualifiers (2005-06), five BIG EAST Conference Men’s Golf Championships (2000, 2002-05) and three BIG EAST Women’s Championships (2003-05).

Last Time Out: Gopher Invitational
Playing in cool, blustery conditions that sent scores skyrocketing, the Notre Dame men’s golf team wrapped up its first tournament of the

2006-07 season on Sept. 17 with a ninth-place finish at the Gopher Invitational on the Spring Hill Golf Club (par 72/7,020 yards) in Wayzata, Minn. The Irish, who opened the day in seventh place, shot a final-round 310 and wound up the 12-team event at 54-over par 918 (313-295-310), with Stanford rallying on the final day for a five-shot victory over tournament host Minnesota.

The strong winds were the story of the weekend, as only one team broke 300 in either the first or third rounds, with the average third-round team score being 19-over par 307 (marked by only one player in the 66-man field breaking par in the final round).

Senior All-America candidate/co-captain Cole Isban and sophomore Josh Sandman ended up among a four-way tie for 19th place at 11-over par 227 in their 2006 openers — Isban shot rounds of 79-72-76, while Sandman carded scores of 75-77-75. For Isban, it was his seventh top-20 finish in the past 13 tournaments, while Sandman collected his third top-20 placement in six career college events.

Freshman Doug Fortner and junior Mike King appeared to have the most difficulty adjusting to the winds in the final round, finishing tied for 43rd place at 20-over par 236.

Fortner was Notre Dame’s top individual through two rounds, but a final-round 86 took some luster off his first two rounds of 79 and 71. Meanwhile, King completed his weekend with rounds of 80-75-81. Senior co-captain Adam Gifford displayed steady improvement in each of his three rounds at the Gopher Invitational, going to the clubhouse in 59th place at 27-over par 243 (85-80-78).

Irish Rookies Come Up Aces In College Debuts
It would be difficult to script a much better start than Notre Dame freshmen Doug Fortner and Carl Santos-Ocampo experienced last month. Both Irish rookies fired aces in their college debuts, with the matching holes-in-one coming a mere 10 days apart.

Fortner was the first to card a “single”
on Sept. 16 in the second round of the Gopher Invitational in Wayzata, Minn., pulling out a pitching wedge and sinking his tee shot on the par-3, 139-yard 17th hole at the Spring Hill Golf Club. Not to be outdone, Santos-Ocampo made his mark in the final round of the John Dallio Memorial (a “B” team event for the Irish) in West Chicago, Ill., using a 7-iron to bury his tee shot on the par-3, 175-yard third hole at the Prairie Landing Golf Club.

Things You Should Know About The Irish
Notre Dame is the three-time defending BIG EAST Conference champion, winning the 2006 title with a dramatic 12-stroke comeback (second-largest in school and league history) in the final round to defeat Louisville on the first playoff hole. The Irish joined St. John’s as the only programs in the 26-year history of the BIG EAST Championship to win three consecutive titles on two separate occasions. The Irish recorded their first hat trick from 1995-97, while St. John’s posted a pair of “four-peats” from 1981-84 and 1986-89.

Notre Dame set numerous school records in 2005-06, including a new standards for season stroke average with a 292.97 mark that obliterated the old mark by more than five shots (298.29 in 1999-2000). The Irish also broke school records for 18 (272, -16) and 54 holes (842, -22) with their performance at the BIG EAST Championship, and on a larger scale, registered six of the top-10 single-round scores in school history during the ’05-06 campaign.

Notre Dame had four players finish end last season with sub-74 stroke averages, the first time that has happened in the 77-year history of the program. Cole Isban carded a school-record 72.97 average, followed by Mark Baldwin (73.17), Josh Sandman (73.40) and Scott Gustafson (73.53).

The Irish achieved another milestone on May 1, 2006 when they were chosen as the Golfweek National Team of the Week. The honor came following Notre Dame’s memorable 12-shot comeback in the final round of the BIG EAST Championship and subsequent playoff victory over Louisville.

Notre Dame’s impressive resurgence of late has been augmented by its play against nationally-ranked opponents. In fact, since Jim Kubinski took over as head coach in January 2005, the Irish have toppled 12 ranked teams (according to Golfweek), including seven last season.

Senior Cole Isban is a prime candidate to become Notre Dame’s first All-American since 1980 (John Lundgren – honorable mention), coming off consecutive selections to the PING All-Midwest Region Team. Isban owns the school’s single-season and career stroke average (see chart on page 3) and has qualified for the last three U.S. Amateur Championships.

Next Up: The Prestige at PGA WEST (Oct. 16-17) It’s a fairly quick turnaround for Notre Dame, as the Irish head west during their fall break, participating for the third consecutive year in The Prestige at PGA WEST. In 2004, Notre Dame closed its fall schedule with a 10th-place tie (934, +70) at the tournament, and last year, the Irish moved up to a tie for fifth place (880, +16) in the event co-hosted by Stanford and UC-Davis.