Oct. 19, 1999
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The 19th-ranked Notre Dame men's golf
team.-led by surging sophomore Steve Ratay (Arlington Heights, Ill./John
Hersey HS)-wrapped up the most successful fall season in the program's
history by rallying for the team's third first-place finish in four events,
following Tuesday's final round of action at the Louisville Intercollegiate.
Notre Dame headed into the second and final round in fifth place,
seven shots behind leader Moorhead State, but the Irish used a final-round
score of 292 in the play-five, count-four format to edge hard-charging
Western Kentucky by two strokes, 593 to 595. Notre Dame's final-round score
was the best round in the 18-team tournament, propelling the Irish well
ahead of Moorhead (602), Ohio University (602) and host Louisville (603).
The current Irish squad becomes the first in the program's history
to finish first in three events during the same academic year (much less
the same semester), with five previous teams posting a pair of first-place
finishes (1985-96, '88-'89, '95-'96, '96-'97 and '97-'98). In fact, no
previous Irish teams have won more than one tournament that featured
11-plus teams.
The strong fall provides a huge boost to Notre Dame's hopes for
securing the program's first appearance in the NCAA Championship since
1966. The Irish were in the running for NCAA bids during each of the past
two seasons, but had to rally in the spring after sub-par fall
performances.
Ratay-who is ranked 56th in the nation and has shot par or better
in six of his last eight rounds-fired a one-under 71 on Tuesday at the
6,850-yard Persimmon Ridge Golf Club to move from fifth place to a
runner-up finish in the 90-player field, at 143. Western Kentucky's Eric
Mason (73-69/142) rallied to edge Ratay by a single stroke.
Notre Dame's strong second round included a 72 from senior captain
Todd Vernon, a 74 from his classmate Jeff Connell and a 75 from junior Adam
Anderson, with the Irish having the luxury of throwing out a 76 from junior
Alex Kent.
Anderson-who played in no intercollegiate tournaments during this
first two years at Notre Dame-again provided the margin of victory from his
fifth-man position. His first-round 77 made up for Vernon's
uncharacteristic 79 while Anderson's second-round 75 saved the Irish from
counting Kent's 76 (Anderson's two rounds in effect saved the Irish three
shots to the final team score). Anderson played a similar role in Notre
Dame's season-opening win at Air Force, when his first two rounds (72-75)
saved the team a total of nine strokes (the Irish beat Wyoming by eight
strokes in that event).
The depth of Notre Dame's starting five at Louisville was evidenced
by the fact that all the Irish golfers finished in the top 26, with Kent
(74-76/150) tying for 14th while Vernon tied for 20th (79-72/151). Connell
(78-74) and Anderson (77-75) were among nine golfers that tied for 26th at
152.
Ratay (71.73) and Vernon (72.82) are well on pace to break the
Notre Dame record for season stroke average, set by Joe Grace in 1955-56
(73.88). Kent (74.09) joins Ratay and Vernon in combining for the three
best individual season averages at Notre Dame in the last 34 years (Charles
Thurn ranks second all-time, with a 73.88 in 1955-56).
TEAM NOTES: Prior to the first-place showing at Louisville, Notre
Dame was ranked fourth in District IV and 19th in the nation, based on the
computerized Golfstat rankings that help determine NCAA Championship
participants ... Notre Dame has defeated every district rival it has faced
this fall, with the exception of Michigan (1-1-0, with the Irish owning a
six-stroke advantage), Marshall (2-1-0, with a 28-stroke cushion) and Miami
of Ohio (1-0-1, with the Irish up 17 strokes) ... Notre Dame's strong fall
included winning the 24-team Air Force Invitational, tying for first at the
16-team Legends of Indiana Intercollegiate and placing third at the 19-team
Xavier Invitational ... as a team, Notre Dame is averaging an impressive
four-man score of 291.91 (72.98 per counted score), well on pace to best
the team record of 298.33 set in 1997-98 ... the top three teams in
District IV include Kent (6th in the nation), Northwestern (11th) and Ohio
State (15th) ... a total of 31 golfers from District IV-six teams and one
additional individual-will advance to the NCAA Central Regional (based on
1999 criteria), which will be held May 18-20, 2000, at Victoria (Texas) Country Club.
RATAY NOTES: Prior to his runner-up finish at Louisville, Ratay-who
averaged just 78.35 strokes over 17 rounds as Notre Dame's fifth-man last
spring-was ranked sixth in the district and 56th in the nation according to
the Golfstat rankings ... Ratay has played all 11 rounds for the Irish
this fall (eight at par-72, three at par-71) and stands at even-par for the
entire fall (789 total strokes), with a 71.73 stroke average ... he has
shot 73 or lower in 10 of his 11 rounds, including three sub-par and four
even-par rounds ... Ratay's fall has included an 11th-place finish at Air
Force (70-72-77/219), a first-place showing at 80-players Legends of
Indiana (71-70-73/214) and a fifth-place finish at Xavier (71-70-72/213)
... he is just the third Notre Dame golfer to finish first or second at two
tournaments during the same semester and the first to do so at two full
intercollegiate tournaments (i.e. not conference tournaments) ... Chris
Dayton won the 35-player MCC Championship and the 90-player Indiana
Intercollegiate in the fall of 1991 ... Willie Kent tied for first at the
66-player Iowa Intercollegiate before finishing second at the 45-player BIG
EAST Championship in the fall of 1998 ... Ratay's 143 ties for the
11th-best 36-hole score in team history (tied for fourth-best in the
1990s).
INDIVIDUAL NOTES: Vernon finished second on the squad with a 72.82
fall stroke average, followed by Kent (74.09), Connell (75.33) and Anderson
(75.73) ... the '99 team balance has seen Ratay count to the team score in
all 11 fall rounds, followed by Vernon (10), Kent (8), Anderson (8) and
Connell (7, of 10) ... Vernon's career stroke average remains at 75.48,
fifth-best in recorded team history (since 1954) ... Connell remains sixth
on that list, at 75.89 ... Vernon has counted to the Irish four-man score
in 76 of 88 career rounds-third-most at Notre Dame during the 1990s ('98
grad Bryan Weeks counted in 80 rounds, '97 grad Brian Donohoe in 77) ...
Connell has counted in 62 of 74 career rounds, good for seventh at Notre
Dame in the '90s.
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (36 holes): 1. Notre Dame 301-292/593, 2.
Western Kentucky 300-295/595, 3. Moorhead State 294-308/602, Ohio
University 298-304/602, 5. Louisville 306-297/603, 6. Cincinnati
300-305/605, 7. Kentucky 304-305/609, 8. Illinois 307-304/611, 9.
Marquette 307-306/613, Ball State 307-306/613, 11. Marshall 306-310/616,
12. Saint Louis 307-310/617, 13. Wisconsin 321-297/618, 14. Eastern
Kentucky 314-306/620, 15. Akron 310-311/621, 16. Youngstown State
314-310/624, 17. Murray State 320-306/626, 18. DePaul 303-326/629.
TOP INDIVIDUALS (of 90): 1. Eric Mason (WKY) 73-69/142, 2. Steve
Ratay (ND) 72-71/143, 3. Wes Furnish (KY) 69-75/144, 4. Mark Wentz (MARQ)
73-73/146, 5. Eric Herberth (OHIO) 74-73/147, Danny Baron (LOU)
76-71/147, Joe Hill (OHIO) 75-72/147, 8. Sam O'Dell (MARS) 72-76/148, 9.
Ben Hensley (MOOR) 71-78/149, Matt Hermann (MOOR) 74-75/149, Ryan Chattin
(BSU) 77-72/149, John Mullendore (WKY) 74-75/149, Kyle Lopez (SLU)
74-75/149.
OTHER NOTRE DAME SCORES: 14. Alex Kent 74-76/150, 18. Todd Vernon
79-72/151, 26. Jeff Connell 78-74/152, 26. Adam Anderson 77-75/152.
