Aug. 15, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The Notre Dame men’s golf team will compete in three different time zones and will make two trips to California as part of a rugged fall 2005 schedule announced Monday by head coach Jim Kubinski. The Irish are slated to participate in five tournaments during the fall, making visits to national powers Minnesota (the 2002 NCAA champion), Duke and UCLA.
“To be the best, we feel we must play the best schedule possible,” Kubinski said. “I think it’s important to the development of our players to face the toughest competition where they are able to continually test themselves. Looking at our schedule, which includes many teams from the Big 10, Pac 10, SEC, Big 12 and ACC among others, it’s easy to get excited. In order to set this schedule, it’s also easy to see the support our athletic department, and the University as a whole, has offered. Notre Dame means competing at the highest level and against the very best. We’re doing that and we’re looking forward to a great season.”
Notre Dame will tee off the fall season Sept. 17-18 in the Gopher Invitational, which will be hosted by Minnesota at the Spring Hill Golf Club in Wayzata, Minn. The tournament will serve as a homecoming for two Irish seniors — Eric Deutsch (Rochester, Minn./Lourdes HS) and Scott Gustafson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie HS) — who have been stalwarts on the Minnesota amateur golf scene in recent years. Deutsch was the 2004 Minnesota State Amateur and Twin Cities Amateur champion and finished fourth at this year’s Minnesota State Amateur. Meanwhile, Gustafson has finished in the top five at each of the past two Minnesota State Amateur Championships, including a runner-up placing in 2004.
Following its season-opening tourney in Minnesota, Notre Dame will head south to Birmingham, Ala., on Sept. 26-27 for the Shoal Creek Intercollegiate, hosted by UAB at the famed Shoal Creek Country Club. After a week off, the Irish will return to the South, visiting Durham, N.C., on Oct. 9-10 for the Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic. This event will mark Kubinski’s first trip back to the Duke campus since the former Blue Devil assistant departed in January 2005 to become Notre Dame’s head coach.
The Irish will close out their fall schedule with a pair of trips to California, beginning Oct. 17-18 at The Prestige at PGA WEST, co-hosted by Stanford and UC Davis on the Greg Norman Course at the renowned PGA WEST facility in La Quinta, Calif. Last year, Notre Dame’s Cole Isban (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian HS) led much of the way at The Prestige before finishing second in the 84-player field with a three-over par 219 (72-74-73).
The 2005 Irish fall schedule will conclude Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at the CordeValle Intercollegiate, hosted by UCLA at the CordeValle Golf Club in San Martin, Calif. This will be Notre Dame’s first appearance in this tournament, but it represents the fourth consecutive year the Irish will compete in Northern California (they took part in Stanford’s Nelson Invitational from 2002-04).
Notre Dame returns nine monogram winners, including five regulars, from last year’s club that won a second consecutive BIG EAST Conference title and reached the NCAA Central Regional for the second year in a row. The spring 2006 schedule for the Irish has not yet been approved and will be released at a later date.
— ND —
2005-06 NOTRE DAME MEN’S GOLF FALL SCHEDULE
Sept. 17-18 Gopher Invitational Spring Hill Golf Club (Wayzata, Minn.) (hosted by Minnesota)Sept. 26-27 Shoal Creek Intercollegiate Shoal Creek Country Club (Birmingham, Ala.) (hosted by UAB)Oct. 9-10 Coca-Cola Duke Golf Classic Washington Duke Inn & Golf Club (Durham, N.C.) (hosted by Duke)Oct. 17-18 The Prestige at PGA WEST Greg Norman Course/PGA WEST (La Quinta, Calif.) (co-hosted by Stanford/UC Davis)Oct. 31-Nov. 1 CordeValle Intercollegiate CordeValle Golf Club (San Martin, Calif.) (hosted by UCLA)