Jackson keeps his roll going as the freshman helps Notre Dame take Fighting Irish Classic

   The last time I checked in on Palmer Jackson, who captured the PIAA Class AAA championship as a senior at Franklin Regional a year ago, he was playing in the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur at the Pinehurst Resort & Country Club’s classic Donald Ross No. 2 Course.

   Jackson fell, 2-up, to John Augenstein, a Vanderbilt senior who went on to fall in the U.S. Amateur final and play for the United States in its Walker Cup victory at Royal Liverpool Golf Club. Jackson had taken out another U.S. Walker Cupper, former Stanford standout Isaiah Salinda, to reach the quarterfinals.

   Well, Jackson took that summer momentum to South Bend, Ind. for his freshman season at Notre Dame and has continued to build on it. This week he helped Notre Dame win its third team title in four starts this fall as it claimed a one-shot victory over Atlantic Coast Conference rival North Carolina as the host of the Fighting Irish Classic played on the Warren Golf Course that was the site of the U.S. Senior Open this past summer.

   Jackson grabbed the lead after the opening round in Monday’s double round with a sparkling 5-under-par 66 over the 7,023-yard, par-71 Warren Golf Course layout. He added a 2-under 69 Monday afternoon and stood in second place, four shots behind a red-hot Christopher Gotterup, a junior at Rutgers from Little Silver, N.J. who fired a sizzling 8-under 63 in the second round.

   Jackson finally cooled off with a throw-out 4-over 75 in Tuesday’s final round to finish in a tie for seventh place at 3-under 210. Still, it was the second top-10 finish in Jackson’s fledgling college career and he has clearly had an immediate impact on the Notre Dame program.

   Notre Dame trailed North Carolina by four shots after opening with a 1-under 283 before firing a sizzling 13-under 271 in the second round that gave the Irish a seven-shot lead over the Tar Heels. North Carolina closed strongly with an 8-under 276, but the Irish held on with a 2-under 282 for a 16-under 836 total, one shot better than the Tar Heels’ 15-under 837 total.

   It was another 18 shots back to Iowa, out of the Big Ten, in third place at 3-over 855. The Hawkeyes bounced back from an opening-round 295 with rounds of 5-under 279 in Monday afternoon’s second round and a 3-under 281 in Tuesday’s final round.

   The Pac-12’s Arizona State shared fourth place with another Big Ten entry, Rutgers, which, led by Gotterup’s spectacular individual performance, matched the Sun Devils at 11-over 863.

Arizona State was solid throughout, opening with a 7-over 291 and adding a 5-over 289 before matching par in the final round with a 284. The Scarlet Knights matched par in the opening round with a 284 and added a 5-over 289 before finishing up with a 6-over 290. The teams were eight shots behind Iowa in tying for fourth in the 14-team field.

   Notre Dame was led by Dave Chatfield, a junior from Attleboro, Mass. who finished in a tie for fourth at 5-under 208. Chatfield bounced back from an opening-round 73 with a scintillating 7-under 64 before matching par in the final round with a 71. Chatfield’s 64 tied the program record for the best score recorded by a Notre Dame player in the Fighting Irish Classic.

   Jackson was two shots behind Chatfield in the tie for seventh place. Backing up the top two was Davis Lamb, a senior from Potomac, Md. who finished among the group tied for 13^th place at 1-under 212. Lamb matched par in the opening round with a 71 and carded a 2-under 69 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 1-over 72.

   The best final-round score from a player in the starting five for the Irish came from Hunter Ostrom, a senior from Eagle, Idaho whose 3-under 68 enabled him to land among the group tied for 29^th place at 2-over 216 and was, obviously, critical to Notre Dame being able to hold off North Carolina.

   Andrew O’Leary, a sophomore from Norfolk, Mass., also came up big in the final round for the Irish, matching par with a 71 that also left him among the group tied for 29^th place along with Ostrom at 216.

   Jackson isn’t the only standout freshman from the Keystone State on the Notre Dame roster. Pat Kelly, a PIAA Class AAA qualifier as a senior at Erie Cathedral Prep last fall, competed as an individual and matched Ostrom’s final round of 3-under 68 to land among the group tied for 18^th place at 1-under 213.

   Notre Dame’s depth was also on display with the performance of Taichi Kho, a sophomore from Hong Kong who joined his teammates Ostrom and O’Leary in the group tied for 29^th place at 2-over 216 while competing as an individual. Kho opened with a 2-under 69 before adding rounds of 3-over 74 and 2-over 73.

   The final Notre Dame player competing as an individual, Alex Jamieson, a junior from Duxbury, Mass., had three straight 4-over 75s to end up among the group tied for 58^th place at 225.

   Gotterup was a runaway individual winner. His 8-under 63 Monday afternoon came on the heels of an opening-round 68. He closed with another 3-under 68 for a 14-under 199 total.

   Gotterup’s been on a pretty good roll himself. After finishing in a tie for fourth in the Big Ten Championship in challenging conditions at Philadelphia Cricket Club’s Wissahickon Course in April, Gotterup claimed the title in the New Jersey Open at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J. and then added a win in the prestigious Met Amateur at Hudson National Golf Club. I suspect not many players have pulled off that summer double before.

   Gotterup was eight shots better than North Carolina’s Ryan Bennett, a sophomore from Lafayette, Calif., and Arizona State’s Mason Anderson, a junior from Chandler, Ariz., both of whom shared runnerup honors, each ending up at 6-under 207. 

   After matching par in the opening round with a 71, Bennett added a 2-under 69 in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 4-under 67. Anderson, competing as an individual, opened with a 4-under 67 and added a 2-under 69 before matching par in the final round with a 71.

   North Carolina’s Ryan Gerard, a junior from Raleigh, N.C., shared fourth place with Notre Dame’s Chatfield at 5-under 208. Gerard opened with a 3-under 68 and matched par in Monday afternoon’s second round before closing with a 2-under 69.

   Austin Greaser, a freshman from Vandalia, Ohio, gave North Carolina a third finisher among the top six in the individual standings as he finished alone in sixth place at 4-under 209. Greaser opened with a 3-under 68 and added a 1-under 70 before matching par in the final round with a 71.

   Mississippi State’s Ford Clegg, a sophomore from Birmingham, Ala., shared seventh place with Notre Dame’s Jackson at 3-under 210. Clegg’s final round of 5-under 66 matched the best round of the day.