University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish comeback to win inaugural Canadian Collegiate Invitational

Staff Canada NextGen member Hunter Thomson wins particular person competitors

MacTier, Ont. – The Preventing Irish got here from 11 pictures again to win the inaugural Canadian Collegiate Invitational at Öviinbyrd Golf Membership in MacTier, Ont. on Tuesday.

Notre Dame shot a collective 6-under within the closing spherical to complete the match at 17-under to beat the College of Michigan and College of Missouri by 5 pictures to say the championship. Kent State College completed fourth at 11-under and Michigan State College rounded out the highest 5, ending 6-under.

Following play yesterday, Notre Dame head coach, John Handrigan stated the crew had a terrific assembly the place they talked about what they wanted to do within the closing spherical. They targeted on the par fives and their lack of ability to attain through the first two rounds. That caused their plan of assault, “let’s deal with each par 5 prefer it’s a par 4 and be aggressive mentally,” stated Handrigan.

“When you consider it as a par 4, you’re going to have some threes and a number of fours and we did that immediately, the quantity of eagles and birdies we had on the par fives had been excellent, so we simply needed a extra aggressive thoughts set slightly than being conservative and cautious and our guys got here out firing.

“I believe that’s what clearly when one other crew sees you come out firing, they’re on defence just a little bit so actually happy with how our crew dealt with it, they didn’t maintain again and we’ve been engaged on that aggressive mindset all yr so it’s good to see them pull by way of and do this,” added Handrigan.

Notre Dame was led by Nate Stevens of Northfield, Minn. And Rocco Salvitti of Canonsburg, Pa. who each shot 2-under 70’s on Tuesday. Jacob Modleski of Noblesville, Ind. and Mike Qiu of Dalian, China additionally had their scores depend to the crew complete following rounds of 1-under 71. Christopher Bagnall of Pretoria, South Africa was additionally a member of the crew and each his scores on Monday contributed to the crew complete.

“We do a number of work as coaches to search out the precise chemistry inside our crew, the precise gamers and now we have such an incredible tradition and I believe that’s a part of our success for certain, the blokes get alongside and there’s by no means any preventing, there’s some needling right here and there as a result of they’re guys they usually’re aggressive however they get alongside so effectively they usually actually love each other and when you may have a crew like that I believe you are able to do some superb issues,” stated Handrigan on his crew.

Heading into the match, Handrigan, who’s from Muskoka, Ont. had a easy message for his crew and that was to take pleasure in it.

“That is my dwelling space, so bringing our gamers to the place I’m from was particular in itself and clearly to get the win was superb. To convey them right here, no person is aware of Muskoka actually within the U.S. so the gamers don’t know the great thing about this place and the great thing about Öviinbyrd, so we simply needed to get right here and luxuriate in it and actually have a very good time. They completely liked it. The hospitality is one however the high quality of the golf course this week was phenomenal,” he stated.

Within the particular person competitors, Staff Canada NextGen member, Hunter Thomson (Michigan) of Calgary, Alta. completed 14-under to carry off fellow Staff Canada NextGen member, Isaiah Ibit (Kent State) of Orleans, Ont. by two. Thomson fired rounds of 66-66-70-202 and has earned an exemption into the 2025 RBC Canadian Open and 2025 Canadian Males’s Beginner Championship.

Thomson stated one thing simply clicked for him this week in MacTier after engaged on his recreation the earlier two weeks and that successful the person competitors was particular having by no means been to Muskoka, Ont. earlier than.

“After I heard there was a school occasion in Canada, I used to be excited, being a part of Staff Canada for the final three-four years it’s fairly particular.

“Final week main as much as this I felt like I acquired again to myself, acquired just a little hungrier for certain and labored on my recreation and I felt superb this week, one thing simply clicked to be trustworthy,” stated Thomson.

Along with Thomson and Ibit, 4 others have additionally earned exemptions into the 2025 Canadian Males’s Beginner Championship, together with: Staff Canada member and 2023 Canadian Males’s Beginner champion, Ashton McCulloch (Michigan State) of Kingston, Ont., Bryce Reed (Kent State) of Delaware, Ohio, Veikka Viskari of Espoo, Finland and Ben Borgida (Washington State) of Shoreline, Wash.

As a Canadian, Handrigan was additionally proud to see three Canadians end atop the person standings.

“Reveals you the way sturdy Canadian golf is and other people don’t perceive that. Take a look at the Presidents Cup, three of our Canadians within the Presidents Cup. This week one, two and three…Canadian golf is powerful and to convey a school match to Canada is admittedly particular and for me being from this space, being from Muskoka and having all my household and pals right here this week it was simply so particular,” he added.

Austin Krahn of Christina Lake, B.C. survived an eight-hole playoff over Charlie Gillespie of Calgary, Alta. and Jager Ache of Woodbridge, Ont. to earn his spot on the 2025 Staff Canada NextGen squad. Krahn entered the day one shot again of the lead and recorded rounds of 73-69-74-216. The Staff Canada NextGen Choice Camp match was being performed concurrently with the Canadian Collegiate Invitational.

The inaugural invitational match was performed by Golf Canada and co-hosted by Kent State College and Penn State College who’re each led by Canadian head coaches, Jon Mills (Kent State) and Mark Leon (Penn State). The match featured 9 NCAA Division I males’s golf groups with distinguished Canadian ties together with the College of British Columbia (UBC) Thunderbirds. UBC certified after successful the 2024 Canadian College/Faculty Championship in June at Idylwylde Golf and Nation Membership in Sudbury, Ont. The invitational marked the primary NCAA Division I males’s golf occasion performed in Canada.

The championship was contested over 54 holes in two days, with 36 holes performed on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday. All three rounds had been performed in a shotgun format. The crew part featured 5 members per crew with the highest 4 scores for the day counting to the general crew rating.

For the ultimate leaderboard following the Canadian Collegiate Invitational, click on right here. For the ultimate leaderboard following the Staff Canada NextGen choice camp, click on right here.