May 28, 2002
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame men’s golf standout, Steve Ratay (Sr., Arlington Heights, Ill.) has been named one of five finalists for the inaugural Byron Nelson Award presented by Cleveland Golf. The award will be presented to a senior men’s golfer who displays excellence on the golf course, in the classroom and in the community.
Joining Ratay on the list of finalists are Jason Allred of Pepperdine University, Wil Collins of the University of New Mexico, Bret Guetz of Texas Christian and Ben Leestma of the Air Force Academy.
Ratay, who graduated on May 19, has already been selected to the 2002 Verizon Men’s Academic All-District Five At-Large team and is on the national ballot for Academic All-America honors in June. A third team selection to the At-Large team in 2001, Ratay was a Dean’s List selection in each of his first seven semesters at Notre Dame and has a 3.82 grade point average in Computer Science. He was also selected as a winner of the Byron V. Kanaley Award which is the most prestigious honor awarded a Notre Dame senior student-athlete. A member of Notre Dame’s Academic Honors Program, Ratay won the team’s Rockne Student-Athlete Award in 2001 and was the team’s Most Valuable Player in 2002.
On the golf course, Ratay, the team’s captain the last two seasons, finished his Notre Dame career as one of the finest golfers ever for the Irish. In his final season, Ratay finished with a 73.03 season average in 32 rounds for the best single-season mark in school history. For his career, Ratay played 105 rounds and had a 74.46 career average to finish .03 off the school record of 74.43. The 2002 BIG EAST individual runner-up, Ratay turned in seven top 10 finishes for the Irish during the 2001-02 season.
To be eligible for the Byron Nelson Award, a student-athlete must be named to the Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar Team by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), be a senior at a four-year degree-granting institution and graduate in the semester that he receives the award.
A nominee’s proficiency in college golf competitions, his success in the classroom and his character are all weighed equally by the selection committee.
The committee is comprised of the GCAA All-America Scholar Committee chair, a golf statistical analyst, a media representative, as well as representatives of Cleveland Golf, Four Seasons Resort and Club, the Salesmanship Club of Dallas and Mr. Byron Nelson.
The winner of the 2002 Byron Nelson Award presented by Cleveland Golf will be announced during the first week of June and presented at a date and location yet to be determined.