Big Green Finish First Day at Notre Dame in 12th

Monday, September 21

South Bend, Ind.

TBA

Dartmouth College

Day One

Big Green Finish First Day at Notre Dame in 12th

9/21/2015 8:29:00 PM | Men's Golf

By: Dartmouth

SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Sophomore Ian Kelsey led the Dartmouth men's golf team on the first day of the Fighting Irish Golf Classic at the par-71 Warren Golf Course by finishing the first two rounds in a tie for 15th at one-over par. Host Notre Dame ended the day ahead of the 12-team field at one-over par with St. Mary's (Calif.) a single stroke back and Wofford in third at three-over while the Big Green found themselves in 12th at 30-over.

Kelsey could hardly have started the morning any better as the native of Deerfield, Illinois, completed the opening round tied atop the leaderboard with a scintillating 68 (-3). Playing the back nine first, he finished the round with six birdies — three on his final five holes — and three bogeys to earn a share of the lead. Kelsey then played the back nine at even par in the second round with two more birdies, but ran into a little trouble on the front with four bogeys to fall back in the field.

Playing in his first collegiate tournament, heralded freshman John Lazor showed some early jitters with a double bogey on 10 to start his first round. After quickly recovering with a pair of birdies on the next two holes, he bogeyed seven of the next par-fours he played, ending the round with a 78 (+7). The Westwood, Massachusetts, native settled into the second round with a trio of birdies — including the 10th hole that gave him trouble earlier in the day — to shoot one-over par and complete the day in a tie for 45th with a 150 (+8).

Junior Jeff Lang was one stroke behind Lazor while shooting par on more holes (24) than any of his teammates. But he ran into trouble on the eighth and 14th holes in both rounds, playing those four at nine-over and the other 32 at even par. Classmate Sean Fahey struggled in the opening round with an 82 (+11) but recovered nicely in the afternoon, shaving seven strokes off that score to shoot 157 (+15) to tie for 65th.

The most consistent Big Green performance was turned in by freshman Reed Russ with a 79 in both rounds to card a 16-over 158.

Daniel Wetterich of Xavier, who was tied with Kelsey after the first round, maintained his position by shooting even par in round two to post a 139 (-3). Joining him atop the leaderboard were Eastern Michigan's Nicholas Ross and William & Mary's Will Stewart, with the latter shooting the low round of the day with a four-under 67 the second time around.

Dartmouth will complete the three-round tournament on Monday morning beginning at 8:30 a.m.