As he rewrites Notre Dame golf’s record books, 20-year-old Jacob Modleski’s talents and determination are evident each time he walks to the first tee.
The Indiana native showed his mettle during Team USA’s 17-9 Walker Cup victory over the team from Great Britain and Ireland Sunday, Sept. 7 at Alister MacKenzie’s breathtaking and challenging Cypress Point Club in Pebble Beach, California. With fading daylight losing its battle to incoming fog where the Monterey Peninsula intersects with the Pacific Ocean, Modleski battled back from being three down at the turn to beat England’s Dominic Clemons, 1 up, and win his team’s final point.
“I won’t forget that call,” said Modleski of being informed he would be Notre Dame’s first-ever Walker Cup representative. “You work hard for a lot of reasons – for yourself, your family, your school, for God. It’s what you are working for in the game of golf. Playing in the Walker Cup at Cypress Point was unbelievable.”
Then, after a joyous but short celebration with USA captain Nathan Smith and his nine teammates, Modleski and Notre Dame head coach John Handrigan flew overnight to Muskegon, Michigan. After just a few hours of sleep, Modleski played the first of three straight days in the Folds of Honor Collegiate at American Dunes Golf Club, a Jack Nicklaus design in nearby Grand Haven. Modleski finished at 1-under 212 for fifth place individually, helping the Irish to finish second, six strokes behind Alabama.
A preseason All-American ranked 11th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings (WAGR), Modleski has oodles of talent. So did the late Billy Casper, who played one semester for Notre Dame in 1950, six years after the Irish won their only NCAA men’s team title. A homesick Casper returned to San Diego, enlisted in the U.S. Navy and married his high school sweetheart before embarking on a Hall of Fame career which included two U.S. Open titles and the 1970 Masters green jacket.
Modleski also has military blood running through his veins – his father Mat thew was an Air Force Thunderbirds pilot who settled with wife Dianne in Nobles ville, a suburb of Indianapolis. Jacob first held a golf club at age 3, later winning many junior golf titles and playing on two state championship teams for Guerin Catholic High School.
“Jacob just does not quit,” Handrigan said. “He’s very disciplined, has a work ethic like I’ve never seen. He’s our best player because he’s also our hardest worker. And he’s committed to his teammates – Jacob was not going to miss the Folds of Honor.”
After his freshman year, when Notre Dame qualified as a team for its first NCAA finals appearance since 1989, Modleski set a school record with his 68.5 stroke average as a sophomore, winning the ACC individual title.
His busy summer included a semifinal appearance in the Western Amateur at Skokie Country Club in Glencoe, where Modleski lost 5 and 3 to Walker Cup teammate Ethan Fang . Then, a little more than two weeks later, in the 125th U.S. Amateur at San Francisco’s Olympic Club, Modleski suffered a 19th-hole quarterfinal loss to future GB&I foe Niall Shiels Donegan of Scotland.
It was Donegan who beat Modleski 1 up in his Walker Cup debut Sept. 6. The next day, Modleski and U.S. Amateur champion Mason Howell beat Eliot Baker and Stuart Grehan, 3 and 1, before Modleski capped the day with his singles victory over Clemons to finish with a 2-1 record.
A business analytics major, Modleski also works with the First Tee program in South Bend. “Coach Jacob always has a smile on his face and an encouraging word for everyone,” local director Jenny Zimmerman said.
It seems Jacob Modleski’s golf career has smiles and smiles to go.—John Fineran
