Matthew Rushton tied for ninth overall at the Clemson Invitational.

Men's Golf Kicks Off Spring Season At Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play Event

Feb. 5, 2016

By Claire Kramer

NOTRE DAME, Ind. – The University of Notre Dame men’s golf team will kick off the second half of the 2015-2016 season at the Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play event on Monday and Tuesday (Feb. 8-9). The event, hosted by Ball State University, will be played at Lake Jovita Country Club in Dade City, Fla.

“We’ve worked hard in preparation for our Spring competition season,” Head Coach Jim Kubinski said. “We’re looking forward to its beginning this week at Lake Jovita. I certainly have great feelings about the venue, as it served host to a record day and the 2006 BIG EAST Championship for us.”

“I think we’ll see evidence of the work we’ve done and experience gained through our mental approach and the attitude we exhibit this week. I anticipate our group showing more comfort on the road this Spring,” he added.

The Details
Date: Feb 8-9, 2016
Format: Match play with seeded bracket, 36 holes on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday.
Tee Times: Monday’s first round kicks off at 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start and directly continues into the second round. The third round begins Tuesday with an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start.
Location: Dade City, Fla.
Course: Lake Jovita Country Club
Tournament Field (Seed): Miami (1), Notre Dame (2), Toledo (3), Xavier (4), Eastern Michigan (5), Dayton (6), Ball State (7), Ohio (8)
Live Scoring/Leaderboards: Golfstat

On the Tee
The event is in match-play bracket format, meaning that each player will be competing to post a better score on each hole than his specific opponent, and the player with the most holes won takes the match.

The Irish (2) will go head-to-head with Ball State (7) in the first and second rounds of bracket match play, and will either continue in the consolation bracket or the championship bracket for the final round on Tuesday.

Junior Matthew Rushton returns to the No. 1 spot for the Irish and will be followed by junior Blake Barens, freshman Miguel Delgado, freshman Ben Albin, freshman Kevin Conners, and junior Liam Cox in spots 2-6, respectively.

Lake Jovita Country Club was the site of Notre Dame’s third-consecutive BIG EAST championship win in 2006, when the Irish came back from a 12-stroke deficit in the final round to defeat Louisville in sudden death play.

The event is named for the late Earl Yestingsmeier, director of the Ball State men’s golf program for 36 seasons, and a member of the Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame and the Indiana Golf Hall of Fame.

— Coach Kubinski Quotes:
On the lineup…
“I expect we’ll be very competitive this week, given the experience our three starting freshmen gained over the Fall and the mounting experience our juniors have accumulated over their collective careers here to date. We don’t have a senior in our lineup but our juniors have competed enough to feel comfortable in a leadership role.”

On match play…
“Match play is very much a different animal. A player could post a lower score and yet lose his match, depending upon how the holes break. It’s more of a momentum format, requiring mental toughness whether you’re up or down in your match.”

— ND —

Claire Kramer is a sophomore student assistant for Fighting Irish Media, working closely with the Athletics Communications Directors for the men’s golf, basketball, tennis and cross country/track programs. An American Studies major with a minor in Journalism, Ethics and Democracy, Kramer is from Olathe, Kansas.