April 30, 2000
Box Score
NOTRE DAME, Ind. - Seton Hall junior Eugene Smith entered the
2000 BIG EAST Men's Golf Championship as one of three players that were
featured on the front cover of the tournament program-alongside the event's
previous two medalists.
By the time Sunday's second and final round of play was completed
at Notre Dame's Warren Golf Course, Smith had joined those players-Notre
Dame's Todd Vernon and Georgetown's Andreas Huber-as a BIG EAST individual
champion while leading the Pirates to the team title and an automatic berth
in the NCAA Tournament.
The host team Notre Dame-which entered the day 14 strokes behind
Seton Hall and in fourth place overall-was able to match the Pirates in the
second round with a score of 290 in the play-five, count-four format. But
the Irish still ended up in third place with a two-round total of 594,
three strokes behind surprising Rutgers in the final standings.
The weekend capped a frustrating spring for the Irish, who surged
into the national top 25 after a highly-successful 1999 fall season that
kindled hopes for the program's first trip to the NCAAs since 1966. The
Irish averaged just 292 strokes per round in the fall but saw that number
rise to 303 in the spring action, with the team's overall 1999-2000 average
(298.29) nonetheless finishing as the best in Notre Dame history (narrowly
besting the 298.33 posted in '97-'98).
Smith-who entered the weekend with an impressive 73.13 season
stroke average-received his biggest challenge for the individual title from
an unexpected source, in the form of diminutive Rutgers sophomore Daniel
Lee. While Smith was navigating the course in the final threesome, Lee was
carving up the layout two groups in front of him. Lee holed three bunker
shots and totaled seven birdies, en route to a round of 66 that broke the
BIG EAST Championship record by three strokes.
Smith, a seventh-place finisher at the '98-'99 BIG EAST
Championship, had a two-stroke cushion on Lee when he teed off at 18 before
two-putting for a round of one-over 72 and a two-round total of
141-matching the tournament record set by Vernon and Huber in their
medalist efforts.
"I knew I had some breathing room going into the final hole, but
what Daniel did out there today was unbelievable," said Smith, who opened
the day with seven straight pars before posting birdies on holes 8, 10, 13,
15 and 17. "I made a lot of good up-and-downs today but wasn't hitting the
ball as well as yesterday.
"Obviously, I loved playing on this course and it's the perfect
type of facility for a college golf tournament. Once the course has time to
mature, it's going to be even better."
Sparked by Lee's charge Rutgers tied the tournament record by
posting a team score of 289 in the final round-good enough for a
three-stroke advantage over Notre Dame, which teed off in the middle group
of teams and finished prior to the last group of threesomes. Junior Shawn
Hughes posted a 73 to help RU's cause while his classmates Ryan MacDonald
and Daniel Horner each carded 75s for the record-tying team score.
Notre Dame sophomore Steve Ratay-who entered the day alone in
second place and just one shot back of Smith, after a one-under 70 on
Saturday-faded from contention before finishing with a round of 77-marking
just the second time in 28 rounds that he did not count to the Irish score
during 1999-2000.
Irish junior Alex Kent bounced back from an opening-round 77 by
closing with a 68-placing him in a tie for fifth in the 45-player field.
Kent, a native of Asuncion, Paraguay, was named to the second annual BIG
EAST all-conference team (as awarded to the top eight finishes),
duplicating the effort of his older brother Willie at the 1998-99 event (a
runner-up performance at TPC Avenel in Bethesda, Md.).
Seton Hall-which will be making its third straight appearance in the
NCAAs-completed an impressive march to the title, thanks in large part to a
final-round 71 from sophomore Brian McGowan and the same score from senior
Scott Hawley, SHU's No. 2 golfer who had stumbled on Saturday en route to a
78.
First-year Seton Hall coach Clark Holle-who was named the BIG EAST
coach of the year during the tournament's awards ceremony-had praise for
the performance turned in by all of the SHU players.
"You can't help but be proud of how these kids performed this
weekend. We had shown signs of building throughout the years but could
never put the rounds together. But this was as focused as I have seen us
this year. We really had to fight through some things, but we did it," said
Holle, who likewise heaped praise on the tournament's organizers for
"making these teams feel like we were the only show in town."
Players that joined Smith, Lee and Kent on the all-conference team
included: SHU's McGowan (144), Andrew Svoboda of St. John's (74-70/144),
Georgetown's Tristan Lewis (72-73/145), Villanova's Dugan Condon
(77-69/146) and SJU's Andrew McKay (73-73/146).
Sunday's action served as a bittersweet end to the careers of Notre
Dame seniors Todd Vernon (71-149) and Jeff Connell (75 -154)-who have
combined to play in 196 career rounds while ranking sixth and seventh on
the Irish career stroke average list (Vernon at 75.41, Connell at 75.85).
Vernon's career mark is the second-best by an Irish golfer since 1970
(trailing only Willie Kent's 74.55) and best by any Irish player with
50-plus career rounds. The Irish captain closed 1999-2000 with a 74.18
season stroke average that ranks third in Notre Dame history, behind the
1955-56 duo of Joe Grace (73.13) and Charles Thurn (73.88).
NOTES: Junior Adam Anderson shot a final-round 76 to round out ND's
second-round total ... Vernon counted to the ND team score in 93 of his 105
career rounds, including 27 of 28 in 1999-2000 ... other final 1999-2000
averages included Ratay (74.54), Connell (75.56), Kent (75.32) and Anderson
(77.32) ... Connell counted in 78 of 91 career rounds (24 of 27 in
1999-2000) ... other final rounds-counted totals for 1999-2000 included
Ratay (26 of 28), Kent (21 of 28) and Anderson (15 of 25) ... Ratay will
head into his junior season with a 75.98 career stroke average ... the
finish was ND's lowest in five BIG EAST Championship appearances, after
winning the first three titles and tying for second last season ... Kent's
68 marked just the 11th time in Notre Dame history that an Irish player has
shot 68 or better in intercollegiate competition (and just the sixth time
since 1978) ... Kent's final round included birdies on 4, 5, 11, 15 and 17
...
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: ND ranked fifth in the nine-team field on the par-3
holes (+14, with Rutgers posting a tournament-best +8) but played the
par-4s at +30 (2nd-best, behind SHU's +28) and the par-5s at -3 (second to
SHU's -7) ... Rutgers and Villanova led the field with 26 birdies each (ND
was fourth, with 22) ... the Irish totaled 107 pars, second to SHU's 108
... Lee led the field on the par-3 holes (-3), followed by Kent at -1 ...
Lewis (even) was the top performer on the par-4s, with Smith, Svoboda and
Lee checking in at +2 ... Condon led the tournament in par-five scoring
(-5, Smith was next at -3) and in birdies (12, followed by Lee with nine)
... Hawley led the field by parring 26 of his 36 holes ... the tournament
action allowed the course officials to get a sense of how different holes
will hold up in a competitive setting-here's an overview:
| 1: | par 4, 372 yards | 4.47 average score | 6 birdies, 26 bogeys |
| 2: | par 4, 462 yards | 4.49 average score | 3 birdie, 39 bogeys |
| 3: | par 4, 393 yards | 4.40 average score | 4 birdies, 25 bogeys |
| 4: | par 3, 143 yards | 3.22 average score | 16 birdies, 22 bogeys |
| 5: | par 5, 518 yards | 4.78 average score | 27 birdies, 9 bogeys |
| 6: | par 4, 436 yards | 4.53 average score | 7 birdies, 31 bogeys |
| 7: | par 4, 398 yards | 4.36 average score | 10 birdies, 29 bogeys |
| 8: | par 4, 414 yards | 4.58 average score | 5 birdies, 28 bogeys |
| 9: | par 3, 185 yards | 3.31 average score | 5 birdies, 27 bogeys |
| 10: | par 5, 495 yards | 5.20 average score | 23 birdies, 15 bogeys |
| 11: | par 3, 216 yards | 3.56 average score | 3 birdie, 44 bogeys |
| 12: | par 4, 443 yards | 4.56 average score | 6 birdies, 31 bogeys |
| 13: | par 4, 433 yards | 4.33 average score | 11 birdies, 24 bogeys |
| 14: | par 3, 197 yards | 3.38 average score | 4 birdie, 31 bogeys |
| 15: | par 4, 380 yards | 4.42 average score | 11 birdies, 29 bogeys |
| 16: | par 4, 345 yards | 4.33 average score | 9 birdies, 21 bogeys |
| 17: | par 5, 480 yards | 4.93 average score | 19 birdies, 23 bogeys |
| 18: | par 4, 434 yards | 4.64 average score | 6 birdies, 23 bogeys |
The toughest holes in relation to par proved to be 18 (+0.64), 11
(+0.56), 6 (+0.53) and 8 (+0.58) while two of the three par-5s were played
under par: the 5th (-.22) and the 17th (-0.07) ... the other "easiest"
holes included the par-five 10th (+0.20) and 4 (+0.22) ... holes that
produced the fewest birdies: 2 (3), 11 (3), 3 (4) and 14 (4) ... the field
racked up 44 bogeys on the 11th hole ... the averaged score improved from
77.71 on Saturday to 77.47 on Sunday, with the biggest jump coming on holes
17 (0.51) and 3 (0.27) while average scores went up on the most on 8 and 15
(both 0.22).
