Thursday Jul 31

NDNU golfers earn spots in U.S. Amateur

FROM DAILY NEWS DISPATCHES

Rarely does a major Div. I college golf program qualify two golfers for the U.S. Amateur. This year, tiny Notre Dame de Namur University accomplished the feat.

Kory Storer and Mike Prescott, May graduates of the Belmont school, qualified Monday for the prestigious event often called golf's fifth major to be held Aug 18-24 at the famed Pinehurst No. 2 course in Pinehurst, N.C.

The friends who competed together for four years on the NDNU team qualified by tying for second with scores of even-par 144 at a qualifying tournament at the Peninsula Golf Club course in San Mateo on Monday. The qualifying event consisted for 36 holes in one day under extremely windy conditions. Three players advanced to the U.S. Amateur out of a field of 85.

Storer also qualified for the event in 2006.

"We're excited for both Kory and Mike," NDNU athletic director Josh Doody said. "They both have worked very hard to achieve this milestone and both represented this program and their school very well while they were students here."

The two join a field of more than 300 at Pinehurst. To even participate in the qualifying tournament, a golfer needed a handicap index of 2.4 or better.