July 30, 2010
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – University of Notre Dame head men’s golf coach Jim Kubinski announced on Friday the team will take part in 13 tournaments during the 2010-11 campaign. The Irish will travel from coast-to-coast, playing in nine different states over the course of action, including playing host to the fifth annual Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic Sept. 27-28 at Notre Dame’s Warren Golf Course.
“We’re very much looking forward to kicking off the new campaign,” states Kubinski, who will be entering his seventh season at the helm of the Fighting Irish program. “We pride ourselves on being a national program and there’s no greater evidence of this than in viewing our schedule. It’s very strong both in a competitive sense and also in its diversity. That’s really what we’re about though. Our goal is always to get out there and compete against the very best teams, on the very best courses. Scheduling in this way offers the best opportunity for our players to grow and can only enhance their college experience.”
Notre Dame will kick off its season at the College of Charleston Invite on Sept. 13-14 in Kiawah Island, S.C. at the Ocean Course on Kiawah Island. It will mark the first time that the Irish will take part in the tournament.
Next the Irish will play in the first of two home events on the season, as the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic takes place Sept. 27-28 at the Warren Golf Course. It will be the fifth time that Notre Dame has played host to the event. Last season, the Irish captured medalist honors in both the team and individual competitions for the first time since the inception of the tournament. Josh Sandman (70-68-74=212) brought home the individual crown at two-over par, while the Irish team fired a three-day 30-over par total (870) for the four-shot victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes.
Notre Dame will then play in three tournaments over the month of October, including a pair of first-time appearances at the Firestone Invitational (Oct. 11-12) hosted by the University of Akron at Firestone Golf Club, and the Lone Star Invitational (Oct. 17-18) put on by the University of Texas-San Antonio at Briggs Ranch Golf Club. The month ends with the team competing in the Saint Mary’s Invitational in Carmel, Calif. at the Bayonet and Blackhorse Golf Clubs. It will mark the second time the Irish have participated in the event, earning a seventh-place finish (out of 17 teams) in the ’08-09 season.
Spring action will get underway with the second annual The Match Play on Feb. 10-12 from TPC of Tampa Bay in Tampa, Fla. Notre Dame took runner-up in the inaugural season of the event, falling to Louisville in the finals.
The month of March will feature three more tournaments for the Irish, opening with the Alumni Match Weekend at the Whisper Rock Golf Club in Scottsdale Ariz. on Mar. 4-6. The team will then head further west as they take part in the San Diego Intercollegiate at the San Diego Country Club on Mar. 14-15, marking the first time the Irish have competed in the tournament. Closing out the month will be a familiar event for the Irish, the Schenkel Invitational, taking place at Forest Heights Country Club in Statesboro, Ga. on Mar. 18-20. For the third time in the past four season the Irish will play in the Georgia Southern hosted event, with a 12th-place result in the ’07-08 season marking the squads best finish.
Four April tournaments will wrap up the team’s regular season starting with an appearance at the LSU Invitational at The University Club at Baton Rouge in Baton Rouge, La. on April 1-3. The Irish will then return home for their second home event, taking to the Warren Golf Course for the one-day Battle at the Warren tournament on April 13. BIG EAST Tournament play will follow from April 17-19 at the Innisbrook Resort in Palm Harbor, Fla. Last season the Irish staked claim to second place at the tournament carding a three-day 874 (+22), missing out on first by one stroke to Georgetown. Notre Dame will conclude its season at the Boilermaker Invitational at the Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind. on April 23-24, marking the teams return to the event for the first time since the ’06-07 year.
Notre Dame will have to fill two holes in the five-man rotation after the graduation of Sandman and Doug Fortner. The two combined to play in 55 rounds last season with 44 of those cards counting to the five-man score. The Irish will look to juniors Max Scodro, Tom Usher and Chris Walker to lead the rotation this coming season. Scodro and Usher will enter fresh off being named all-conference selections while Walker will look to build off a year in which he made the weekend team on 10 occasions. Seniors Connor Alan-Lee, Jeff Chen and Dustin Zhang will all enter this year with some degree of experience on the five-man team, while sophomore Paul McNamara III and freshmen Andrew Carreon, Andrew Lane and Niall Platt will all look to compete for a place in the final two spots.
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