Coach Mike Fleck said he was hoping his team would move into the top third of the field after the final round of the Xavier Invitational in Batavia, Ohio. However, the Ball State University men's golf team finished 11th out of 20 teams.
The Cardinals were unable to move up the leader board as they shot a 288 in the final round.
"We just never really took advantage of the golf course," Fleck said. "The course was giving up low scores and half of the field shot under par. This was one of the easier golf courses we have seen all season and we have to get better of taking advantage of that."
Junior Brian Maurer led the Cardinals with an individual score of 212. Maurer posted consecutive 70s in the second and third round, earning 19th place overall individually.
"We have been talking about taking steps forward, and while we didn't take any steps backward, we just played average," Maurer said. "We all have to play well. Not just one or two guys."
Marquette University won the tournament. Ball State finished with a team score of 869, 28 strokes behind Marquette.
"In order to be successful it has to be a collective effort," Fleck said. "A couple of guys didn't do as good of a job as they have in the past and it hurt our team. We have to become more mature on the golf course in terms of our mentality."
Excluding Maurer, the rest of the team finished 44th or worse individually.
"We cannot have just one guy in the top 20," Fleck said. "If we have one individual in the top third of the field that player is going to have to win the tournament in order to put us in a good position. Brian Maurer was great but he didn't get a lot of support from his teammates."
Fleck said an issue he has faced all season is determining the five golfers to play. Fleck said the fifth and final spot is still being worked out.
"The challenge is to get Maurer, [Andrew] Rhodes, [Matt] Schumaker and [Ross] Cosat to play together," he said. "Secondly we have to have a fifth guy to compliment them."
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