Sept. 9, 2004
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The last time the Notre Dame men’s golf team took to the links in competition, it earned an impressive 12th-place finish at the 27-team NCAA Central Regional, coming away just four strokes shy of advancing to the NCAA Championships. Now, four months later, the Irish will look to take the next step in their rapid return to national prominence when they open the 2004-05 collegiate golf season Friday and Saturday at the Inverness Intercollegiate, hosted by the University of Toledo at the legendary Inverness Club (par-71, 7,255 yards), site of numerous PGA championship events.
The Teams: This year’s Inverness Intercollegiate features a 13-team field that also includes Alabama-Birmingham, Augusta State, Central Florida, Eastern Michigan, Georgia Southern, Illinois, Kansas State, Kent State, Kentucky, Michigan State, Northwestern and Toledo. Last year, UCLA won the tournament by 10 strokes, defeating Kansas State with a score of 34-over par 886. This year’s field is especially high-powered, with 10 teams that competed in last year’s NCAA Regionals (Alabama-Birmingham, Augusta State, Central Florida, Georgia Southern, Illinois, Kansas State, Kent State, Kentucky, Notre Dame and Toledo). Three of those squads advanced to the NCAA Championship (Kent State, Kentucky and Toledo), with Kentucky turning in an eighth-place finish.
Dates and Times: Teams will play the first two rounds (36 holes) on Friday and come back for the final 18 holes on Saturday. The first round will be a shotgun start with golfers teeing off in threesomes around the course beginning at 8:30 a.m. (EDT) — the second round will follow later in the day after a short break. The final round on Saturday will also be a shotgun start, beginning at 2 p.m. (EDT).
Irish Lineup: Notre Dame will field a veteran crew this weekend, as four of the five golfers in the Irish lineup were on the scorecard when Notre Dame played its final round at last year’s NCAA Central Regional. Junior Scott Gustafson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie HS) paced the Irish with a career-best 74.23 stroke average and he has 11 tournament-leading efforts in his young career, which is fourth-best in school history. Junior Mark Baldwin (Laconia, N.H./New Hampton Prep) turned in a 76.97 stroke average last season and narrowly missed his second consecutive all-BIG EAST selection. Meanwhile, junior Eric Deutsch (Rochester, Minn./Lourdes HS) was the workhorse during Notre Dame’s Central Regional run, setting a 36-hole school record for NCAA play at 147 en route to a tie for 27th place overall. He also had a fantastic summer, winning a pair of amateur titles in his home state of Minnesota. Sophomore Cole Isban (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian HS) enjoyed a superb rookie season, placing second on the team with a 75.24 stroke average and earning all-conference honors. He also had a strong summer, qualifying for the U.S. Amateur Championship at the famed Winged Foot Golf Club. Freshman Greg Rodgers (Phoenix, Md./St. Paul’s School) rounds out the Notre Dame quintet this weekend, making his college debut after reaching the quarterfinals of the Maryland State Amateur Championship and the second round of match play at the North & South Amateur this past summer.
Welcome Home, Coach: Fourth-year head coach John Jasinski is quite familiar with this tournament and this course. He played at Toledo from 1980-83 and served as an assistant coach for the Rockets from 1984-87 before returning as UT’s head coach from 1992-2001. His final season with the Rockets also was the debut campaign for the Inverness Intercollegiate.
Irish At The Inverness Intercollegiate: This year marks Notre Dame’s third consecutive trip to the Inverness Intercollegiate. In 2002, the Irish placed 14th with a three-round score of 924. Last season, Notre Dame finished 15th after shooting a 934.
Tournament Results: Results will be available at www.und.com upon completion of each round on both days of the tournament.
Did You Know?: Notre Dame’s Warren Golf Course has been selected as one of the nation’s top 15 campus courses, according to the Sept. 4 issue of Golfweek magazine. The four-year-old layout, which is the only college campus venue designed by the team of Bill Coore and PGA Tour veteran Ben Crenshaw, was ranked 12th in the country — ahead of such notables as the Karsten Golf Course (Arizona State), Colbert Hills Golf Course (Kansas State) and the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex/Kampen Course (Purdue).
Next For The Irish: Notre Dame is back in action on its home soil Sept. 17-19 for the Notre Dame Invitational & Central Regional Preview.
— ND —