Event: Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic
Where: Warren Golf Course – Notre Dame, Ind.
When: Monday and Tuesday; all day
Who to watch: Saying that Austin Graham has gotten off to a good start would be an understatement.
A sophomore from San Clemente, Calif., Graham was named the Big West Conference Men’s Golfer of the Month for September on Thursday.
Graham notched three top-15 finishes, including a first-place finish at the Kansas Invitational.
“This is a great honor for Austin since there are a lot of outstanding players in the Big West,” said head coach Cy Williams. “He worked extremely hard in the off-season and it showed as he came out playing at a high level right away.”
Did you know? Five of the 16 teams competing in the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic are ranked in the national top 50. Lamar and Arkansas are both in the top five.
Preview: After finishing in first and second place in its first two events, respectively, the UC Davis men’s golf team hit its first wall of the season last week.
The Aggies found themselves in last place after the first day of the Husky Invitational in Bremerton, Wash. on Sept. 29. They shot a final-round 293 on Tuesday, improving to ninth place in the 11-team field.
Williams said that UC Davis’ play on the greens was the problem.
“We probably hit as many greens and fairways as the team [that] won,” he said. “If we cut a third of those three-putts, we erase some of those big numbers we put on some of those holes, and we finish in the top four or five. We just need to fix that.”
Graham paced the Aggies with a 14th-place showing. After firing 79s in his first two rounds, senior Nate Pistacchio rebounded nicely with a 70 on Tuesday – the lowest round of the tournament for UC Davis.
UC Davis will be looking for more of the same from Graham and Pistacchio in hopes of rebounding at Notre Dame.
–Adam Loberstein
