March 13, 2003
Brookwood, Ala. – The Notre Dame men’s golf team wraps up its southern spring trip to Florida and Alabama this weekend when they play in the prestigious Conrad Rehling Alabama Spring Invitational at the Capstone Club in Brookwood, Ala. The three-day tournament will be played from March 14-16 on the par 71, 6996-yard Capstone course. This tournament has been a University of Alabama tradition since 1978. It began as the Southern Intercollegiate from 1978 to 1995 and then became the Blue-Gray Intercollegiate in 1996. From 1997 t0 2000 it became the Alabama Spring Invitational before becoming the Conrad Rehling Alabama Spring Invitational in 2001. The University of Minnesota is the defending champion as they edged the host school, Alabama, by six strokes in 2002.
The Teams: The 13 teams participating in the 2003 Conrad Rehling Spring Invitational include: Alabama, Alabama-Birmingham, Auburn, College of Charleston, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana State, Michigan State, Minnesota, Mississippi, Notre Dame, Purdue, Southeast Louisiana and Toledo.
Dates and Times: The Conrad Rehling Spring Invitational is a three-day, 54-hole tournament that will be played from Friday, March 14 through Sunday, March 16. Notre Dame will tee off on Friday morning at 8:40 a.m. Tee times for Saturday and Sunday will depend on the teams standing after each day.
Irish Lineup: Coach John Jasinski is expected to go with the same lineup he used last weekend at the Big Red Classic in Ocala, Fla. That group included: senior Brandon Lunke (San Antonio, Texas) and the four freshmen who saw a majority of the action in the fall – Mark Baldwin (Laconia, N.H.), Eric Deutsch (Rochester, Minn.), Scott Gustafson (Eden Praire, Minn.) and Tommy Balderston (Boca Raton, Fla.).
Last Tournament: Notre Dame finished eighth in the 18-team field at the rain-shortened Big Red Invitational to start the week. The Irish opened with rounds of 300 and 284 on Monday for a 584 total only to see Tuedsay’s final 18 holes washed out by rain. Freshmen Eric Deutsch and Scott Gustafson were Notre Dame’s top golfers as they tied for 18th in the tournament with one-over par totals of 145. Deutsch shot rounds of 76-69 while Gustafson shot 73-72 on the first day of play this spring for the Irish.
Irish Leaders: Senior Brandon Lunke has Notre Dame’s top scoring average heading into this weekend’s play with a 73.36 for 11 rounds of play. He is followed by three freshman who are separated by .39 strokes per round. Eric Deutsch is second with a 74.82 for 17 rounds of play. Scott Gustafson is third with a 74.88 average over 17 rounds and Mark Baldwin is fourth with a 75.21 average in the 14 rounds he’s played. Tommy Balderston has played in every tournament this season for the Irish and has a 76.05 average.
Tournament Results: Results will be available on the Notre Dame website at und.com after 9:00 p.m. on each day of tournament play.
Next For The Irish: The men’s golf team will return to Notre Dame following this weekend and will next see action at the Johnny Owens Invitational on Sat.-Sun., March 29-30. That tournament will be played at the University of Kentucky Golf Club in Lexington, Ky.