Men's Golf in South Bend for Fighting Irish Classic - Final Results.

[knightfan7]

Strong field led by pre-season #8 Tennessee. Also playing are pre-season #20 Washington, #23 Duke, and #26 UCLA. Other B1G teams are Iowa, Indiana, Michigan St, and Purdue. Last time out RU finished 8th in the Canadian Collegiate Invitational which was won by this week's host, Notre Dame.

RU has played in this event a number of times before. The Knights finished 6th last year. Probably most notable was back in 2019 Chris Gotterup shot 14 Under, including a 2nd Round 63 and ran away with the Individual Title by 8 strokes.

Rutgers will go with the same lineup they used previously with Grad Noah Kumar, Senior Weston Jones, Soph Derek Gutierrez, and Frosh Argyle Downes and Bennett Espenshade. Rutgers will be paired in the first 2 rounds with Duke and UCLA.

 

[knightfan7]

In this morning's First Round, Rutgers shot a team 295 (+15) on the Par 70, 7,020 Warren GC. They were tied for 12th with Kent State in the 15 team field.

Frosh Argyle Downes led the team with a 1 Over 71. he was followed by Noah Kumar and Weston Jones with 74's. Bennett Espenshade and Derek Gutierrez shot 76's.

Arkansas - Little Rock led with a team 2 Under, followed by UCLA (Even), Purdue (+1), Iowa (+5), and Notre Dame, Louisville, and Georgia Southern at +7.

The Afternoon Round was more of the same as RU shot a second 295 (+15}. They had started off well, moving up to 8th but faded and dropped to 13th.

Argyle Downes and Weston Jones both shot 2 Over 74's. They were followed by Bennett Espenshade's 76 with Derek Guttierez and Noah Kumar 77's, Individually Downes is Tied for 21st. Jones is Tied for 37th, No other RU golfer is in the top half of the scoreboard.

Notre Dame and Louisville are currently tied for 1st at +3. UCLA, Purdue, and Arkansas - Little Rock are one stroke back.

B1G teams

T3 - Purdue +4
T3 - UCLA
6. - Iowa +6
10 - Mich State +22
13. RUTGERS - +30
14 - Indiana +32
15 - Washington +34

In tomorrow's Final RU will likely be paired with Indiana and Washington.

 

[knightfan7]

Rutgers again had one of the worst rounds of the 15 teams, a 293 (+13) and dropped to 14th. This is the 2nd event in a row the team finished near the bottom of the leaderboard.

Rutgers was led by Weston Jones' 71 (+1). He finished T28 (+7) along with Argyle Downes who shot 74. Noah Kumar shot 73 finishing T62, Bennett Espenshade shot 75 and finished T65. Derek Gutierrez shot 76 which put him T77.

Notre Dame (-5) had the best round of the tourney, a 7 Under 273. This enabled them to win their 2 event of the young season, this time by 11 strokes over Purdue (+6). Louisville (+7) was 3rd, followed by Arkansas - Little Rock (+7) and Tennessee (+13).

Louisville's Sebastian Moss won the individual title with a 3 round total of -5. One stroke behind was Ark-LR's Matteo Cristoni with ND's Rocco Salvitt and Tenn's Lance Simpson 2 back. This was Moss' 2nd win in 4 events this Fall. Interestingly he also started off 2023 with 2 wins and those were back to back.

BIG10 Teams

2. Purdue +6
7. UCLA +20
8. Iowa +21
12. Mich State +40
13. Indiana +42
14. RUTGERS +43
15. Washington +55

RU returns to the course next Mon-Tue for the Quail Valley Collegiate in Vero Beach. Along with Rutgers the 16 team field includes Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Iowa State, USF, UNCG, Cincinnati, and Memphis.

 

[RUTrack94]

Better than WASH and within stroking distance of MSU and Indy.

 

[knightfan7]

Better than WASH and within stroking distance of MSU and Ind.

At least 10 of the 15 playing at ND made the NCAA Regionals last Sprng, including Wash, MSU, and Indy. That's why I called it a strong field.

The first D1 rankings should come out between the 15th and 31st. Right now I'm guessing they'll be in the bottom 1/3 of the Conf. Last year they ended 8th and 91st out of 306 D1 programs. The team lost a combined 17 years of college competition to graduation and no more eligibility. '24-'25 is a who knows what they'll be team.

 

[richthedentist]

At least 10 of the 15 playing at ND made the NCAA Regionals last Sprng, including Wash, MSU, and Indy. That's why I called it a strong field.

The first D1 rankings should come out between the 15th and 31st. Right now I'm guessing they'll be in the bottom 1/3 of the Conf. Last year they ended 8th and 91st out of 306 D1 programs. The team lost a combined 17 years of college competition to graduation and no more eligibility. '24-'25 is a who knows what they'll be team.

They're young but OMG the quality of young players is so different now a days they all hit it over 300 yards and many of them are playing since they can walk; its still more of an entitled game as if you are a member of a club and parents have money than you have a great advantage; I love what Gotterup is doing but being able to play all the golf you can is quite an advantage!!
Lets hope our young squad just keeps improving

 

[knightfan7]

They're young but OMG the quality of young players is so different now a days they all hit it over 300 yards and many of them are playing since they can walk; its still more of an entitled game as if you are a member of a club and parents have money than you have a great advantage; I love what Gotterup is doing but being able to play all the golf you can is quite an advantage!!
Lets hope our young squad just keeps improving

Well said Rich.

Boy, Chris has had a strange 1st full year on tour. Wins at Myrtle Beach and since missed 7 of 11 cuts with only 1 finish better than 50th. He hits the ball a long way, 20th in Driving Distance, but is 170th in Driving Accuracy

 

[richthedentist]

Well said Rich.

Boy, Chris has had a strange 1st full year on tour. Wins at Myrtle Beach and since missed 7 of 11 cuts with only 1 finish better than 50th. He hits the ball a long way, 20th in Driving Distance, but is 170th in Driving Accuracy

yeah I think we discussed he has got to improve his driving accuracy to make the jump even the tournament he won I believe his accuracy was bad

 

[richthedentist]

yeah I think we discussed he has got to improve his driving accuracy to make the jump even the tournament he won I believe his accuracy was bad

ONe more story on the driving accuracy there was a kid(I will call him a kid because I am older than his father) but we have become good friends and we were playing the Wednesday before our club championship and we played 9 and he was hitting the ball all over the place and we went to the range and worked on his driver now he had a little alignment issue but the big thing was he hits the driver 320 and all I said to him was all you need to do is hit the ball '300' and give up those few yards for more accuracy; Long story he goes and wins the club championship!!

 

[knightfan7]

yeah I think we discussed he has got to improve his driving accuracy to make the jump even the tournament he won I believe his accuracy was bad

I think you're right we did. I may have also said the biggest issue I see is that these wayward drives leave him very difficult 2nd shots and why he's 156th in shots gained approaching the green. IMO, he's really, really good around and on the green but too often it's to save par rather than making a red number.

Have a good day.

 

[richthedentist]

I think you're right we did. I may have also said the biggest issue I see is that these wayward drives leave him very difficult 2nd shots and why he's 156th in shots gained approaching the green. IMO, he's really, really good around and on the green but too often it's to save par rather than making a red number.

Have a good day.

Yup you too; are there any more fall tournaments for the men or women?

 

[knightfan7]

Yup you too; are there any more fall tournaments for the men or women?

Men are scheduled to play Mon-Tue down in Vero Beach but who knows with Milton. Then they finish the Fall the 25th-27th in the Bahamas.

The Women play in Oklahoma Mon-Tue and 28th-29th in Texas.

After that, both teams break till early February.