Feb. 27, 2016
By John Patrick Bruno
NOTRE DAME, Ind. –The University of Notre Dame men’s golf team enters its second competition of the spring at the National Invitational Tournament, which opens on Sunday (Feb. 28). The event will be played at Omni Tucson National-Catalina Course in Tucson, Arizona.
“We’ve worked hard the last several weeks and prepared well,” Head Coach Jim Kubinski said. “Getting out to Arizona last weekend was beneficial, just in seeing how the ball flies and how the mountains and valleys influence putts. Playing at 2,500 feet is certainly a little different than our match play competition in Florida. Our guys should now have a jump on making the necessary adjustments.”
“I’m confident we’ll put together a solid plan for Tucson National, as a team. I’m very much looking forward to the continued growth of this young team as well. We’re starting to apply the lessons learned, which is an exciting time for us,” he added.
The Details:
Date: Sunday Feb. 28- Tuesday Mar. 1
Golf Course: Omni Tucson National-Catalina Course
Tournament field: Arizona, Colorado State, Iowa State, Nevada, New Mexico State, Notre Dame, San Jose State, Santa Clara, Stephen F. Austin, UC Davis, Utah, UTEP, Wyoming
Format: 54-hole stroke play 18 holes each day, with the low four of five scores counted each round for the team total.
Tee Times:
Round 1 begins at 8 a.m. MST on Sunday, Feb. 28
Round 2 begins at 8 a.m. MST on Monday, Feb. 29
Round 3 begins at 8 am MST on Tuesday, Jan. 30
Live Scoring/Leaderboards: BirdieFire
On the Tee
— The event is stroke play, with the lowest four of five scores for each team counted toward a team total, aggregated over the three days.
— Juniors Blake Barens and Matthew Rushton will start the competition alongside freshmen Ben Albin, Kevin Conners, and Miguel Delgado.
— Coach Kubinski Quotes:
On upcoming matchesââ’¬¦
“We’re kicking off a great stretch of our season this week in Tucson. Over the next three weeks we’ll play several more head-to-heads than we did all fall season. This opportunity isn’t lost on our team. It all starts with U of A’s event. We’ll rely on our preparation and the momentum we started by taking 2-of-3 matches in Dade City.”
On the courseââ’¬¦
“Omni Tucson National is a nice test. I have a feel for the layout, having taken one of our teams there a few years ago but, really, Coach Gump has great knowledge of the course, given his PGA Tour visits. My recollection is that there are a handful of holes where you’re playing to make par and several where players will have good chances to score, especially the Par 5 holes.”
— ND —
John Patrick Bruno is a sophomore student assistant for Fighting Irish Media, working closely with the Athletics Communications Directors for swimming, hockey, golf, and lacrosse. An Economics and Applied and Computational Mathematicsand Statistics Major, Bruno is from St. Paul, Minnesota.