College golf landed at the exclusive Alotian Club in Roland, Arkansas, this week and Notre Dame stole the show. In a limited but stacked six-team field, Notre Dame opened a 20-shot margin after 54 holes of stroke play at the inaugural Jackson T. Stephens Cup then took down Arkansas in Wednesday’s title match.
Head coach John Handrigan called it a week that was four years in the making.
“It’s been four years of building this, to be honest,” he said. “All these guys have been through it and I’m just proud of what they’ve done over the years and how much they’ve improved over time. The program got better every single year since we’ve been a part of this trip together. Everything we’ve asked them to do, they’ve done it and that showed this week.”
The inaugural event debuted at the Alotian Club this week before it makes stops at equally exclusive Seminole Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida, in 2022 and Trinity Forest in Dallas in 2023. The six-team field played 54 holes of stroke play before the top two teams – Notre Dame and Arkansas – squared off in a televised match for the title on Wednesday.
Stephens Cup: Scores
The other four teams also played head-to-head matches, with Florida State and Arizona, who had tied for third, playing each other and Alabama and San Diego State, the Nos. 5 and 6 teams, squaring off. San Diego State and Arizona won those matches.
In the title match, Notre Dame claimed four of five points, starting with Taichi Kho at the top of the bracket taking on Segundo Oliva Pinto. Kho, who was third in stroke play at 5 under, won, 1 up. Kho’s Irish teammate Davis Chatfield won by the biggest margin of the day, defeating Luke Long, 6 and 4.
Palmer Jackson, who tied for individual medalist honors, also won a point for Notre Dame with Andrew O’Leary claiming the fourth point.
Notre Dame entered the week ranked No. 17 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings. The Stephens Cup victory comes on the heels of a runner-up…
Source : yahoo
