April 28, 2001
East Providence, R.I. – The Notre Dame men’s golf team finished the opening day of play at the BIG EAST Golf Championship in sixth place with a 36-hole total of 612 on rounds of 307 and 305. The Irish will go into Sunday’s final round of play 24 strokes behind tourney leader Virginia Tech. The 22nd-ranked Hokies covered the par 70, 6,464-yard Metacomet Country Club with a 28-over par total of 588 (291-297). The winner of the BIG EAST Tournament gets the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA Division I championships.
The Irish, who entered the tournament seeded third, trail fifth place Rutgers by eight strokes. Virginia Tech has a two-stroke lead on second place St. John’s as the Red Storm finished the day with a 590 (304-286). Seton Hall is third, 10 strokes off the lead with a 598 (298-300). Georgetown rounds out the six-team field with a 601.
As a team, the Irish have struggled, but individually, junior Steve Ratay (Arlington Heights, Ill.) is right in the thick of the battle for medalist honors as he is tied for second, just one stroke behind Virginia Tech’s Brian Krusoe. Ratay fired an opening round even-par 70 and followed with a four-over par 74 for his 144 total. Krusoe had rounds of 72 and 71 for his tourney leading 143.
Ratay is tied for second with three others. He is joined by Rutgers’ Ryan MacDonald (75-69), Virginia Tech’s Chris McKeal (70-74) and St. John’s Andrew Svoboda, who bounced back from an opening 77 with the best round of the tournament in the second round as he fired a three-under par 67.
The rest of the Irish squad didn’t fare as well. Alex Kent (Sr., Lambare, Paraguay) is tied for 16th as he shot a 13-over par 153 (77-76) on the wind-swept Rhode Island course. Sophomore Kyle Monfort (Dublin, Ohio) is tied for 23rd with a 156 total (78-78) while Brandon Lunke (So., San Antonio, Tex.) is 28th with a 161 (84-77) and Pat Schaffler (Sr., Dallas, Tex.) closes out the Irish contingent tied for 29th with a 165 (82-83).
The BIG EAST Championship will be on the line Sunday morning as the final round of play at the Metacomet Country Club will begin at 8:00 a.m.
TEAM RESULTS (36-hole totals):
1. Virginia Tech 291-297-588, 2. St. John’s 304-286-590, 3 Seton Hall 298-300-598, 4. Georgetown 305-396-601, 5. Rutgers 300-304-604, 6. Notre Dame 307-305-612.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (of 30):
1. Brian Krusoe (Virginia Tech) 72-71-143, 2. Steve Ratay (Notre Dame) 70-74-144, Ryan MacDonald (Rutgers) 75-69-144, Andrew Svoboda (St. John’s) 77-67-144, Chris McKeal (Virginia Tech) 70-74-144, 6. Cody Courbier (Georgetown) 75-70-145, 7. Jessie Fitzgerald (St. John’s) 72-74-146, Jay Allaghi (Seton Hall) 74-72-146, 9. Eugene Smith (Seton Hall) 70-77-147, Andrew McKay (St. John’s) 73-74-147.
NOTRE DAME SCORES:
t2. Steve Ratay 70-74-144, t16. Alex Kent 77-76-153, t23. Kyle Monfort 78-78-156, 28. Brandon Lunke 84-77-161, t29. Pat Schaffler 82-83-165.