This past week, the Notre Dame men’s golf team tied for fourth place at the Schenkel Invitational. The tournament took place March 21-23 in Statesboro, Georgia. Notre Dame’s collective 859 (-5) shots through the three-round event placed them on level terms with Kentucky and just ahead of West Virginia, Campbell and Middle Tennessee State.
The Irish were led by the stellar play of sophomore Jacob Modleski. Modleski, a Ben Hogan Award Watch List recipient, shot 210 (-6), placing him tied for third place overall. His tournament was highlighted by a low score of 67 (-5) in the third round. The score is deja vu for the Noblesville, Indiana native as he shot 210 (-6) in the same tournament last season, the only difference being his individual finish shot up from T-11 to T-3.
Not far behind were Rocco Salvitti and Nate Stevens. Salvitti shot a 214 (-2), while Stevens shot a 216 (E). These scores placed them T-13 and T-23, respectively. After shooting 73 (+1) in round one, Salvitti stormed back for a low round of 68 (-4) in round two. Stevens shot 72 (E) across the board, displaying immense consistency. Both scores are an improvement from their 219 (+3) at the Lamkin Invitational in San Diego a week and a half ago.
The remaining members of the Irish’s five, Christopher Bagnall and Mike Qiu, placed deeper toward the middle of the pack. Bagnall shot 221 (+5) en route to a T-44 finish. Although shooting even in the final two rounds, Bagnall wasn’t able to drop any lower after shooting 77 (+5) in round one. Qiu shot 230 (+14) and finished in 71st place. Qiu found success on the seventh hole, carding birdies in the first two rounds on that hole.
Utah won the invitational with an 842 (-22). Defending champion Florida fell just a place back, shooting 843 (-21). The Utes and Gators were followed by the host Georgia Southern. The home team shot a comfortable 848 (-16).
Notre Dame’s greatest success came on par 4s, finishing fourth with an average score of 4.09. However, Notre Dame’s 3.13 average score on par 3s resulted in a ninth-place finish in that respective field. In total, Notre Dame shot 172 pars, 45 birdies and two eagles.
Led by head coach John Handrigan, the team is hitting its stride as they approach the back nine of the season. Following a 10th-place finish at both the Watersound Invitational, hosted by Florida State, and the Lamkin Invitational, hosted by the University of California - San Diego, the Irish’s result at the Schenkel Invitational shows improvement throughout the whole team. The program is now looking ahead to April where they will start the month back in Georgia for the Haskins Award Invitational. They will wrap the month up down the road in West Lafayette, Indiana, at the Boilermaker Spring Invitational.
From there, the Irish will compete at the ACC Championships April 25-28 before potential trips to the NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships in May.
