March 7, 2016
By Dan Colleran
OPELIKA, Ala. – Junior Matthew Rushton shot a one-under par 71 in the second round of play at Auburn University’s Tiger Invitational at the Grand National Lake Course, moving into a tie for eighth on a crowded leaderboard.
The Irish carded a 17-over par 305 in the second round to move up one place to 15th with one round remaining in the three-day tournament.
Rushton led the Irish for the second consecutive day, including an eagle on the par-five 12th hole. After two days of play, Rushton is tied for eighth at one-over par 145. All told, 13 players are separated by five strokes in the top eight places on the leaderboard.
Junior Blake Barens took three strokes off his first round score to post a second round 75 (78-75-153).
Freshmen Miguel Delgado (79) and Ben Albin (80) also scored for the Irish on Tuesday, while freshman Kevin Conners shot an 83.
The stroke average for the second round increased slightly over the first round to 76.14 (96 rounds).
Host Auburn leads the field (285-292-577), followed by Troy (290-289-579) and Kennesaw State (291-292-583). On the individual leader board, Troy’s Luke Moser shot a three-under par 69 in the second round to move into first place, five strokes ahead of Rushton.
The final round of the Tiger Invitational will be played on Tuesday, March 8 with Notre Dame’s tee times beginning at 8:39 a.m. on the tenth hole. Live scoring will be provided by Golfstat.
15. Notre Dame (306-305-611)
T-8. Matthew Rushton (74-71-145)
T-58. Blake Barens (78-75-153)
T-66. Ben Albin (75-80-155)
T-80. Miguel Delgado (79-79-158)
T-95. Kevin Conners (83-83-166)
— ND —
Dan Colleran, associate athletics communications director at the University of Notre Dame, has been a part of Fighting Irish Media since August 2015 and coordinates all media and publicity efforts surrounding the Notre Dame hockey and men’s golf programs. A native of Walpole, Massachusetts, Colleran spent the previous three years working with the men’s hockey and soccer programs at Providence College. Colleran also spent two years as an Assistant Executive Director of Communications & Championships at the Ivy League and is a graduate of Providence College (’06 & ’08G).