Sept. 30, 2012
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Notre Dame junior Niall Platt (Santa Barbara, Calif.) fired a final round even-par 70 to earn a one-shot victory at the Macdonald Cup at The Course at Yale. The Fighting Irish carded a two-day total of 569 (282-287) to finish in fourth place in the team competition.
“It was just awesome to see Niall earn his first collegiate win. He has worked very hard, and was under the radar the last couple seasons with Max (Scodro’s) success,” Notre Dame head coach Jim Kubinski said. “Niall had a great summer, which really boosted his confidence. He played superbly.”
Platt finished the tournament at two-under par (68-70-138) after shooting an opening round 68 on Saturday. He hit 31 of 36 greens during the tournament, and found the fairway on 13 of 14 chances in Sunday’s final round.
Senior Paul McNamara III (Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.) fired the low Notre Dame round of the day with a one-under 69 to claim a share of seventh place (71-69-140).
“140 is a great total at Yale,” Kubinski said. “Like Niall, Paul played very well tee to green. I loved his bounce-back this weekend.”
Yale won its home tournament for the second consecutive season, finishing with a two-day total of 564 (282-282). Hartford (283-284-567) and St. John’s (280-287-567) shared runner-up honors, while Harvard (283-289-572) joined Notre Dame in the top-five.
“The goal heading into this season was to allow this young team to grow and mature, to get comfortable competing,” Kubinski said. “Andrew Lane and Tyler Wingo are really doing that. Peyton Vitter and David Lowe posted a good round at each event so far. We certainly thought we could win this weekend, but I’m very happy with our week-to-week progress.”
Notre Dame returns to action Oct. 7-9 when it hosts the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic at the Warren Golf Course.
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