March 14, 2008
STATESBORO, Ga. – After struggling on the opening day of its first two spring tournaments, the Notre Dame men’s golf team showed solid progress on Friday, carding a nine-over par 297 and placing 12th after the first round of the Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational at the Forest Heights Country Club (par 72/6,962 yards) in Statesboro, Ga.
The Irish are among a group of seven teams separated by only four strokes in the middle of the 18-team field, which features 12 teams in the top 50 of the latest Golfweek rankings, including seven Top 25 clubs. No. 8 Tennessee holds the overnight lead after an opening-round 282 (-6), while Notre Dame currently is leading No. 23 North Carolina (13th place, 298) and No. 46 North Florida (15th place, 303), and is only one shot behind 11th-ranked Auburn (T-10th place, 296).
Junior Josh Sandman (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford) is the top Irish individual thus far, standing in a tie for 23rd place following a 73 (+1) on Friday. Sophomore Doug Fortner (Tustin, Calif./Foothill) and freshman Tyler Hock (Ocala, Fla./Forest) are one shot behind their veteran teammate in a 36th-place tie with matching scores of 74 (+2) for the opening round. Sophomore Carl Santos-Ocampo (Naples, Fla./Community School of Naples) and freshman Connor Alan-Lee (Solana Beach, Calif./La Jolla Country Day School) rounded out the Notre Dame lineup, sharing 57th place with identical marks of 76 (+4).
Three players share the individual lead after Friday’s first round at four-under par 68. A total of 96 golfers are in the field for this weekend’s tournament, which is considered one of the premier events on the college golf tour.
The Irish will get a late start for Saturday’s second round of the Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational, with Notre Dame’s quintet set to begin teeing off at 10:30 a.m. (ET) from the No. 10 tee at nine-minute intervals. Live in-progress scoring will be available via the Golfstat web site (www.golfstat.com) and updated results will be posted on the official Notre Dame athletics web site (UND.com) upon completion of the day’s action. Fans also can obtain updates on the Irish at the Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational via the Notre Dame Sports Hotline (574-631-3000) and the Irish ALERT text message system (click here to sign up).
— ND —
Schenkel E-Z-GO Invitational
March 14, 2008 — Statesboro, Ga.
Forest Heights Country Club (par 72/6,962 yards)
TEAM RESULTS (18-hole totals): 1. Tennessee 282; 2. Alabama 285; 3. (tie) UAB and South Carolina 286; 5. LSU 287; 6. Florida 290; 7. Kentucky 294; 8. (tie) Augusta State and Michigan State 295; 10. (tie) Auburn and North Carolina State 296; 12. NOTRE DAME 297; 13. North Carolina 298; 14. Georgia Southern 301; 15. North Florida 303; 16. Minnesota 304; 17. New Mexico 305; 18. Boston College 318.
TOP SIX INDIVIDUALS PLUS NOTRE DAME FINISHERS (of 96): 1. (tie) Mark Anderson (USC), Clayton Rotz (LSU) and Zach Sucher (UAB) 68; 4. (tie) Michael Thompson (UA), Stewart Whitt (UA) and Robin Wingardh (UT) 69; 23. (tie) Josh Sandman (ND) 73; 36. (tie) Doug Fortner (ND) and Tyler Hock (ND) 74; 57. (tie) Connor Alan-Lee (ND) and Carl Santos-Ocampo (ND) 76.