Notre Dame returns home for annual Fighting Irish Classic

For the Notre Dame men's golf team, home is not often a place where they get to compete. The bitter cold winters of South Bend make hosting a competition during the spring season, which lasts from February to April, somewhere between unwise and unrealistic. And unlike most other Irish sports teams, there isn’t a slate of home games filled with fans to raise team spirit.

But this weekend, the Irish won’t have to go anywhere for their third event of the fall. The Fighting Irish Classic, the annual outing Notre Dame plays at its own Warren Golf Course, will tee off this weekend. Unsurprisingly, it’s a competition the Irish have fared well in over the years. Since 2015, the Irish have placed  in the top five every year (except 2020, when no competition was held due to COVID-19). On three occasions, Notre Dame earned at least a share of first place.

A year ago, Notre Dame placed fourth in the event, its lowest finish since coming in fifth in 2018. Just five strokes separated the Irish from first-place Florida, with Georgia Southern and North Carolina placing in between. Three of the five golfers who competed for the Irish last year are still around. Graduate student Palmer Jackson finished tied for 13th, breaking 70 in his final two rounds. Sophomore Nate Stevens, then competing in his first collegiate event, was one of four Irish golfers to register a second-round score of 68 or better. Senior Angelo Marcon’s final round 66 was tied for the lowest single-round score of anyone on the Irish in the tournament.

Last year, the Fighting Irish Classic was the first of five fall events for Notre Dame. This year, it’s the fourth. The Irish have finished first at Michigan State’s Folds of Honor Collegiate, eighth at Minnesota's Gopher Invitational and 11th and Northwestern’s Windon Memorial Classic. After the Fighting Irish Classic, which takes place from Oct. 1-2, the Irish will have one event left in the fall. It’s an exciting one, though. The team will travel to iconic St. Andrew’s, former home of The Open Championship, in Fife, Scotland, from Oct. 23-25.