Aug. 3, 2005
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – An impressive summer on the amateur circuit continues for the Notre Dame men’s golf team, as three Irish golfers are among the final 32 competitors at the 105th North and South Amateur Championship, being contested all this week in Pinehurst, N.C. Rising junior Cole Isban (South Bend, Ind./Mishawaka Marian HS), sophomore-to-be Eddie Peckels (Pinehurst, N.C./Pope John Paul II HS (Fla.)) and incoming freshman Josh Sandman (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford HS) all made the cut following 36 holes of stroke play and won their first-round matches on the famed Pinehurst No. 2 course that recently played host to the U.S. Open.
Although he has yet to play a single round at the collegiate level, Sandman has shown a great deal of promise this week, tying for 11th place in stroke play at two-under par 141 (71-70). The reigning North Carolina Class 3A state champion and 14th seed in the North and South field, Sandman defeated Wake Forest rising sophomore and 51st-seeded Chris McCartin, 2 & 1, in Wednesday’s opening round of match-play action. Sandman will move on to face Chattanooga sophomore-to-be Gordon Strother, Jr., the 19th seed, in the round of 32 on Thursday at 9:14 a.m. EDT (8:14 a.m. EST/CDT in South Bend).
Fresh off his run to match play and a top-16 finish at last week’s Western Amateur, Isban is at it again this week, tying for 23rd place in the two-round qualifier at even-par 143 (69-74). The 25th-seeded Isban, who advanced to the third round of match play at last year’s North and South Amateur, then ousted the No. 40 seed, Pepperdine rising sophomore Jesse Barnsley, 2 & 1 in the first round of this year’s match play bracket. With the victory, Isban will meet Alabama incoming freshman Matt Swan in the second round on Thursday at 7:46 a.m. EDT (6:46 a.m. EST/CDT in South Bend). The 57th-seeded Swan advanced with a 3 & 2 upset of eighth-seeded Joel Kraner in the opening round.
Peckels, playing in his own backyard, tied for 54th place in stroke play with a four-over par 147 (72-75), having to survive a 14-man playoff on Tuesday night for the final 10 spots on the match play tree. Building on the confidence obtained in the playoff, the 59th-seeded Peckels charged into match play and ran roughshod over No. 6 seed Scott Anderson (a former Ohio State standout), 6 & 5. Peckels thus earned a berth in Thursday’s second round of match play against 38th-seeded Andrew Lanahan, a senior-to-be at LSU, starting at 9:22 a.m. EDT (8:22 a.m. EST/CDT in South Bend).
Should any or all of the Notre Dame players win their second-round matches on Thursday morning, they would return to the links later that afternoon for action in the round of 16. The quarterfinals are slated for Friday, with the semifinals on Saturday and the 36-hole championship match scheduled to take place on Sunday. North Carolina rising junior Martin Ureta, a native of Chile, is the defending champion.
— ND —
U.S. AMATEUR QUALIFIER UPDATE: Two Notre Dame golfers have qualified as alternates for the 2005 U.S. Amateur Championship in the past week. Rising seniors Tommy Balderston (Boca Raton, Fla./St. Andrews HS) and Scott Gustafson (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie HS) both could be called upon if an automatic qualifier from their sectional is not able to compete at the U.S. Amateur.
Balderston finished fourth in his sectional qualifier on July 26 at the Stone Creek Golf Club in Urbana, Ill., carding an even-par 144. He finished three shots away from claiming one of the two automatic qualification spots. Meanwhile, Gustafson shot a four-under par 140 and also took fourth in his sectional on Tuesday at the Hillcrest Golf Club in St. Paul, Minn. Gustafson narrowly missed automatically making the field, ending up one shot out of the top three qualifying positions.
Balderston and Gustafson could join Notre Dame’s three automatic qualifiers — Isban, Peckels and rising senior Eric Deutsch (Rochester, Minn./Lourdes HS) — in giving this year’s U.S. Amateur a distinctly Notre Dame flavor. All five players are among nine monogram winners returning for second-year Irish head coach Jim Kubinski, who piloted his charges to a second consecutive BIG EAST Conference title and NCAA Central Regional berth in his inaugural campaign of 2004-05.