Entering the final round one stroke from the lead, the Ball State University men's golf team finished four strokes back behind Detroit and Eastern Kentucky University with a combined team score of 851. Senior Austin Steele finished one under par, shooting a 71 in the third round. In his best performance as a Cardinal, Steele tied for third overall.
"It's definitely something I'm excited about," Steele said. "I didn't even realize I was on the leader board until Wayne Denger said something to me. I am grateful to finish third and to have contributed to the team in all three rounds."
Playing much better than last week, coach Mike Fleck believes this was a good tournament for his players.
"We could have done better if we finished strong in the stretch, but a third place finish is good," Fleck said. "We just didn't get the low scores as we had the first day. The golf course was tougher and the weather conditions weren't as good. Consequently we put up good numbers but not great numbers."
Alongside Steele, Denger finished in the top ten tying for seventh place. Breaking even, Denger felt comfortable playing at the Delaware County Club in Muncie.
"Naturally, it's our own course, so we were reassured and held more confidence going into this week's tournament," Denger said. "We slacked during the fourth score of the final round, but as a team we all played much better than in previous weeks."
Despite playing poorly on the more challenging twelfth through fifteenth holes, the men's golf team maintained its focus to beat Austin Peay State University, which placed second last week at the Xavier Invitational, just ahead of Ball State.
"To their credit they hung in there and did a decent job," Fleck said. "The goal is to try and put yourself in position to win the tournament. We did an excellent job at holes one through ten, but just didn't finish as we would have liked."
Although the Cardinals did not win, Steele believes the team is really coming together.
"I think the team is starting to gel," Steele said. "We are playing off one another, the team feels good about our play, and I know we can compete with any other team out there."
While the Cardinals came in first place at the Earl Yestingsmeir Invitational in 2005, Fleck wishes to move on.
"I'm disappointed that we didn't win, but tomorrow's a new day," he said. "There are more rounds in front of us and more golf to play. We have found out a lot about what we have to prepare for and what we are about. We just have to continue to work hard and look ahead to the other tournaments."
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