April 20, 2001
Ravenna, Ohio – The Notre Dame men’s golf team fired a 14-over par 294 in the opening round of the FirstEnergy Intercollegiate Golf Tournament to stand in third place after 18 holes of play. The second round was cancelled due to casual water on the Windmill Lakes Golf Course. The tournament will now become a 36-hole tourney as the final 18 holes will be played on Saturday beginning at 8:00 a.m. on the par 70, 6,936-yard course.
The Irish trail Purdue (290) for first place by four strokes and second place Kent State (293) by one. Notre Dame, in third, leads Michigan State (296) and the University of Toledo (296) by two strokes to round out the top five teams in the tournament.
Three Notre Dame golfers will go into Saturday’s action tied for sixth after 18 holes. Junior Steve Ratay (Arlington Heights, Ill.), senior Alex Kent (Lambare, Paraguay) and sophomore Brandon Lunke (San Antonio, Tex.) each shot two-over par 72’s. That puts them four strokes behind tournament leader Jon Mills of Kent State who shot a two-under par 68. Brad Heaven of the University of Toledo is in second place with the only other par or under round as he fired an even par 70 in his first round of the tournament.
Ratay and Kent continued their strong spring play. Ratay shot 36-36 for his 72 while Kent fired a 35-37 for his 18- hole mark. Lunke, playing in his first tournament this spring, fired shot a pair of 36’s for his round of 72.
Rounding out the Irish contigent at Kent State were junior Kyle Monfort (Dublin, Ohio) and senior Pat Schaffler (Dallas, Tex.) who were tied for 57th with eight-over par totals of 78.
TEAM RESULTS (18-hole totals):
1. Purdue 290, 2. Kent State 293, 3. Notre Dame 294, 4. Michigan State 296, Toledo 296, 6. Iowa 298, 7. Eastern Michigan 300, Wright State 300, 9. Bowling Green 302, Ball State 302, 11. Miami (OH) 303, 12. Marquette 304, 13. Ohio University 305, 14. Marshall 310, 15. Illinois 313, 16. Wisconsin 314, 17. Akron 318, 18. Indiana 322, 19. Northern Illinois 325.
TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS (of 95):
1. Jon Mills (Kent State) 68, 2. Brad Heaven (Toledo) 70, 3. Brent Goik (Michigan State) 71, Peter Karmis (Purdue) 71, Shar Kapur (Purdue) 71, 6. Steve Ratay (Notre Dame) 72, Alex Kent (Notre Dame) 72, Brandon Lunke (Notre Dame) 72, Danny Sahl (Kent State) 72, Tyler Stith (Iowa) 72.
NOTRE DAME SCORES:
t6. Steve Ratay 72, Alex Kent 72, Brandon Lunke 72, t57. Kyle Monfort 78, Pat Schaffler 78.