The quest for the Irish to repeat as champions in the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic is turning into a two-team race, as Notre Dame is tied with Iowa at seven-over-par after the first two rounds of the three-round tournament.
The Irish and the Hawkeyes hold a 10-stroke advantage over San Francisco going into the final round.
Junior Tom Usher led the Irish on day one, which featured 36 holes of golf on the Warren Golf Course north of campus. Usher fired a 1-under score of 139 over two rounds to share the individual lead in the tournament with San Francisco's Taylor Travis.
Usher posted five birdies on the front nine to reach a low score of four-under before stumbling a bit down the stretch with three straight bogeys on the 10th through 12th holes.
Right behind Usher was his fellow junior and Irish team leader Max Scodro, who had an eventful day, posting 10 birdies and nine scores of bogey or worse to even out at even par when the day ended. Scodro sits one stroke behind Usher and Taylor heading into tomorrow's action.
Rounding out the scoring Irish golfers were freshman Niall Platt (+3), who in only his second tournament with the squad continues to prove a reliable lineup option for Kubinski, and junior Chris Walker (+8). Platt played a clean round in the morning to post a score of one-under before struggling in the afternoon with six bogeys. Senior Connor-Alan Lee's score of 10-over-par rounded out the lineup, but under the tournament's five-count-four scoring structure Lee's day one score does not count toward the Irish competitive score, as only the top four Irish scores are counted.
Day two will consist of one round, with the Hawkeyes and the Irish neck-and-neck heading into the final 18 holes. Usher and the rest of the Irish will look to best the Hawkeyes and hold off the rest of a competitive fourteen team field as the field gets back underway at 8 a.m. Tuesday at the Warren Golf Course.
