Throughout its fall season, the men's golf team struggled to finish matches strongly.
With each round it played, team scores would get higher, especially on the second day of their two-day events. The exact opposite proved true when the team opened its spring season with two meets in Florida over Spring Break.
The Cardinals played host to the Big Red Classic, their first event held the first weekend of Spring Break, March 9-10, at Lake Diamond Golf and Country Club in Ocala, Fla.
Despite starting slow with a first-round score of 306, the team shot 302 and 301 in the next rounds to take ninth place out of 16 teams. Its score of 301 was the fifth lowest of the last round.
The last weekend of Spring Break, March 16-17, the Cardinals competed in the El Diablo Intercollegiate in Citrus Spring, Fla.
Again, the team was in the middle of the field after shooting 300 the first round, but shot 298 the second round to gain some ground.
The Cardinals shot a 291 in their third and only round played on the second day. Their score was the lowest of the day, beating the next lowest score by four strokes. This advantage allowed them to finish sixth out of 20 teams.
"At both events we didn't have a good start," coach Mike Fleck said. "However, I was pleased that even though we started bad, we were still not out of it."
Fleck said during the fall season that the reason for his team's poor finishes was mainly mental. He said mental fatigue and lack of focus in the final day of competition raised players' scores. In the off-season, Fleck focused his team on correcting the mental mistakes.
The team corrected these errors in Florida, Fleck said.
"Our scores were higher the second day because the way we approached the game," Fleck said. "We made sure we were in the game mentally. It was just a matter of going out there and improving our status."
While at the two matches, the Cardinals got a chance to size up their competition, Mid-American Conferences teams they will compete against this season. Marshall hosted the El Diablo Intercollegiate and was the only MAC school to finish above Ball State in both events.
Other conference schools participating were Akron, Bowling Green, Kent State, Northern Illinois and Ohio.
"Marshall is definitely a team we're going to have to contend with if we want to be in the upper level of the MAC," Fleck said.
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