Oct. 22, 2002
McKinney, Texas – The Notre Dame men’s golf team finished off its best tournament of the season on Tuesday as the Irish fired a one-over par team total of 289 for a nine-over par total of 873 at the 2002 Stonebridge Invitational. The 873 (289-295-289) gave the Irish a fifth-place finish, just 16 strokes behind co-champions Baylor and Lamar. Both schools finished with seven-under par totals of 857. The tournament was played on the par 72, 7,257-yard Dye Course.
Lamar (287-285-285) made up three strokes on the final day to tie second-round leader Baylor (283-286-288). The co-champions finished five strokes ahead of third-place Arkansas as the Razorbacks finished with an 862 (289-289-284). Texas Tech was fourth with an 868 (296-284-288) to finish five strokes ahead of Notre Dame on the final scoresheet.
Individually, Andrew Dahl (Arkansas) took a one-stroke victory from Jamie McLeary (Baylor). The two golfers were tied after two rounds at 139, but Dahl carded a final round 70 while McLeary fired a 71. Dahl finished with a 54-hole mark of seven-under par 209 (71-68-70) while McLeary checked in at six-under par 210 (67-72-71). Mark Van Hoose and Matt Larson of Lamar finished in third and fourth. Both golfers carded three-under par 69 with Van Hoose finishing with a 211 (73-69-69) while Larson finished at four-under par 212 (71-72-69).
Notre Dame freshman Tommy Balderston (Boca Raton, Fla.) finished all alone in fifth with a three-under par 213 after rounds of 69, 73 and 71. The 213 total is the seventh-best 54-hole total ever shot by an Irish golfer equalling Brandon Lunke’s 213 at the Fresno-Lexus Classic last week and Steve Ratay’s even-par 213 at the Xavier Invitational in 1999-2000.
Fellow freshman Eric Deutsch (Rochester, Minn.) had his best finish as a member of the Notre Dame golf team as he tied for 12th with four other golfes at even-par 216. Deutsch shot a final round 71 after rounds of 68 and 77 on Monday.
Mark Baldwin (Fr., Laconia, N.H.) shot an even-par 72 on Tuesday to move into a tie for 31st with a six-over 222. Baldwin shot 76 and 74 for the first 36 holes.
Brandon Lunke (Sr., San Antonio, Tex.) tied for 56th with a 228 (76-77-75) and Scott Gustafson (Fr., Eden Prairie, Minn.) was 66th after a final round 84 gave him a 16-over par 232. Sophomore Ryan Marshall (Marco Island, Fla.) played as an individual participant and was 73 overall with a 240 (86-75-79) to round out the Irish contingent at the Stonebridge Invitational.
Notre Dame will close out the fall portion of the schedule next weekend, Fri-Sun., Oct. 25-27 when the Irish play in the Nelson Invitational at Stanford. This tournament consists of 18 holes per day for the three-day tourney.
FINAL TEAM RESULTS (54 holes): t1. Baylor 283-286-288-857; Lamar 287-285-285-857; 3. Arkansas 289-289-284-862; 4. Texas Tech 296-284-288-868; 5. Notre Dame 289-295-289-873; 6. Iowa State 289-297-288-874; 7. Southern Methodist 300-290-290-880; 8. Arkansas-Little Rock 294-290-303-887; 9. Western Kentucky 302-291-296-889; 10. Louisiana-Lafayette 303-292-300-895; t11. Texas-Arlington 294-296-307-897; Southeastern Louisiana 300-295-302-897; 13. SMU-JV 294-291-313-898; 14. Kent State 303-304-299-906.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (of 76): 1. Andrew Dahl (Arkansas) 71-68-70-209; 2. Jamie McLeary (Baylor) 67-72-71-210; 3. Mark Van Hoose (Lamar) 73-69-69-211; 4. Matt Larson (Lamar) 71-72-69-212; 5. Tommy Balderston (Notre Dame) 69-73-71-213; t6. Ryan Baca (Baylor) 71-70-73-214; Chris Stroud (Lamar) 70-72-72-214; Adam Wing (Arkansas) 71-74-69-214; Robby Shaw (Western Kentucky) 74-72-68-214; Stephen Sparolini (SMU) 74-70-70-214.
NOTRE DAME PLAYERS (of 76): 5. Tommy Balderston 69-73-71-213; t12. Eric Deutsch 68-77-71-216; t66. Scott Gustafson 77-71-84-232; t31. Mark Baldwin 76-74-72-222; t56. Brandon Lunke 76-77-75-228; 73. * Ryan Marshall 86-75-79-240.
*individual participant