The predicted 20-30 mph winds had no effect on the Falcon Invitational, however, the 40-48 mph winds all day took their toll on the women's golf team. Windy conditions prevented any individual player from breaking 80, something that four Ball State University golfers were able to accomplish at last week's tournament in Indianapolis.
"It was undoubtedly the most severe weather conditions I've experienced in college golf," coach Katherine Moat said.
Despite being sunny all day, the strong wind and cold temperatures caused the team to play with four to five layers of clothing on, Mowat said.
"You can't get caught up on it and let it frustrate you," senior captain Kallie Harrison said. "You've got to roll with the punches and keep on truckin'."
The Cardinals finished the first round in sixth place out of 11 teams trailing the leader, the University of Cincinnati, by 10 shots. Ball State shot a 349 for the day, allowing it to finish two shots behind the University of Toledo, who currently holds fourth place. The Cardinals did manage to take a four-stroke lead over host school and Mid-American Conference rival Bowling Green State University, who is currently placed eighth.
"Everyone struggled in the same way today," Mowat said. "We played with great attitude. It would have been easy to become discouraged, but they kept going."
The Falcon Invitational is played in a six, count four format, in which six golfers from each school compete and the four best scores from each school are officially recorded. Those on top of the Cardinals' individual scoreboard are sophomore Sarah Windlan who finished tied for ninth, Harrison who finished tied for 14th, and the two freshmen, Amy Roberts and Melissa Miller, who finished the day tied for 20th.
Ball State will continue competition tomorrow at the Stone Ridge Golf Course in Bowling Green, Ohio.
"That was the worst weather I've ever played in," Windlan said. "It's all about the attitude. That was the biggest challenge, not getting frustrated."
Weather.com predicts conditions to be similar, but less severe than Monday; winds are not expected to exceed 25 mph. Monday's expectations were similar and turned out to be much worse than expected.
"We've got to go out there and do the same thing," Windlan said. "Keep working on our short game, get the ball up and down and we'll be OK."
Chipping was very hard and the short game as a whole was difficult with the strong winds, Windlan said. However, attitude is a key factor going into the second round on Tuesday, Windlan said.
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