CARY, N.C. – The Notre Dame men’s golf team will look to carry its momentum into the Stitch Intercollegiate at the MacGregor Downs Golf Course this weekend. The Fighting Irish are coming off a season-best 845 (-19) performance at Augusta Haskins, which resulted in a third-place showing.
In fact, the Irish bested four other top-25 teams in the field, including two in the top-10. As a direct result, Notre Dame jumped up to No. 26 in both the Golfstat and Golfweek national rankings.
The tournament will follow a typical two-day format, consisting of 36 holes on Friday, followed by a final round 18 on Saturday.
Fans can once again follow the live scoring on Golfstat.com.
THE IRISH CLUBHOUSE
Notre Dame will be sticking to its same fivesome that has improved in every tournament this spring. The Irish shot an 867 (+3) at Seminoke, then an 857 (-7) at Timuquana, then an 852 (-12) at Spartan, followed lastly by an 845 (-19) at Augusta Haskins. The latter tied for the fifth best 54-hole tournament score in program history.
Sophomore Palmer Jackson is fresh off his best outing of the year, finishing in fifth place at Augusta Haskins with a 207 (-9). Same is said for freshman Tucker Clark, who continues to steadily improve each tournament, finishing in 12th at Augusta with a 211 (-5) – both season bests.
The duo is both averaging rounds below 72, with Jackson leading the team at 71.67, followed closely by Clark at 71.83.
Davis Chatfield also shot under-par last weekend, finishing at three-under for his second top-20 showing of the season. The senior is averaging a 72.00 even for the year.
The group is rounded out by Taichi Kho and Andrew O’Leary, who are both averaging a 72.58 per round.
THE FIELD
This weekend’s field consists of 12 teams. Joining Notre Dame and host NC State are Denver, East Tennessee State, Virginia Tech, College of Charleston, Elon, East Carolina, Coastal Carolina, Davidson, Campbell and Duke.
THE COURSE
Designed by Willard Byrd, one of America’s leading golf course architects, MacGregor Downs golf course is annually rated as one of the best golf courses in the Southeastern United States. In the early 1970s, it hosted the Liggett & Myers PGA Tour Match Play Championships and currently hosts the Stitch Intercollegiate each year. Some of the greatest names in golf have walked the fairways, including Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Phil Mickelson, Stewart Cink, David Duval and Davis Love III.
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