Under the watchful eye of head coach Jim Kubinski, Notre Dame has been rated ninth in the '07-08 <i>Golf Digest</i> balanced rankings for athletic and academic excellence, according to the September issue of the magazine. <i>(photo by Steve Ritter)</i>

Irish Rise To Sixth-Place Finish At The Maxwell

May 14, 2006

Final Results From The Maxwell in PDF Format
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ARDMORE, Okla. — The Notre Dame men’s golf team finished in sixth place at The Maxwell on Sunday afternoon, carding a 13-over par 853 (290-282-281) at the Dornick Hills Golf & Country Club in Ardmore, Okla. The tournament was played with a unique scoring format which counted the top four individual scores per hole to the team total, and contrary to an earlier recap on this site, those tournament scores will not be counted as school records. In fact, the scores listed above (853, +13) are what the Irish actually shot during their three rounds, rather than what was counted in the tournament (those modified totals are attached to this recap as a PDF file for those interested).

No. 2 Oklahoma State won the tournament for the fifth consecutive year, while 15th-ranked Baylor and Oklahoma rounded out the top three. The Irish did finish one spot ahead of 23rd-ranked Tulsa in the final tournament standings, earning their seventh win over a Top 25 opponent this year (and the 12th since head coach Jim Kubinski arrived on campus in January 2005).

Individually, senior tri-captain Mark Baldwin led Notre Dame for the fifth time this year with a 16th-place tie at one-over par 211 (68-70-73). Junior tri-captain Cole Isban was tied for 29th place at four-over 214 (74-68-72), while senior tri-captain Scott Gustafson tied his career-low round for the third time this season (second in as many weeks), with his final-round 67 leading to a 36th-place tie at six-over par 216 (76-73-67). Freshman Josh Sandman tied for 49th place at 10-over par 220 (72-74-74), while senior Tommy Balderston came back from a first-round disqualification with scores of 71 and 69 in his final two rounds.

Notre Dame now turns its attention to the postseason and the NCAA East Regional, which opens up Thursday morning at the Lake Nona Golf & Country Club in Orlando, Fla. Making their 33rd NCAA postseason appearance (and third consecutive regional trip), the Irish are the No. 16 seed at this year’s East Regional and will be paired with Georgia Southern and Maryland for the first two rounds of the tournament. Thursday’s opening round gets underway at 7 a.m. (ET) with Notre Dame starting on the No. 1 tee at Lake Nona. Live in-progress scoring of the three-day regional will be available via the Golfstat web site, while regular live updates also will be provided on the Notre Dame Sports Hotline (574-631-3000). Complete recaps following each day’s competition will be posted on the official Irish athletics web site (www.und.com).

— ND —