Ball State men’s golf finished 10th of 12 teams at the Crooked Stick Invitational, falling one spot to Toledo in the final round. The Cardinals finished with a team score of 29 shots over par, one shot behind the ninth place Rockets.
Senior Michael Makris lead the charge for Ball State, finishing tied for 14th, shooting two shots over par for the tournament. Makris sank 11 birdies over the three rounds, the third highest total in the tournament.
Junior Timothy Wiseman used a round of 74 to improve to a 34th place tie, after shooting eight shots over par. Freshman Jack Cunningham finished tied for 38th (+9), senior Johnny Watts tied for 48th (+13) and senior Michael VanDeventer tied for 52nd (+14).
Head coach Mike Fleck said that this tournament was another missed opportunity for the team, failing to take advantage of a course that his players are very familiar with.
“We were playing relatively close to home on a very familiar golf course and we made a ton of mistakes again,” Fleck said. “This week we had a ton of big numbers. We had a handful of double [bogeys] and a few triple bogeys and they did us in.”
Fleck continued to emphasize that Ball State’s play around the green continued to be a factor in the tournament. Fleck cited that a stretch of holes put the Cardinals in the back half of the scoreboard, and they were not able to recover.
“We started off really well through our first five holes as a team,” Fleck said. “But we hit a stretch of holes when we went from -4 to +12 as a team. We were tied for second, and before we knew it we dropped to the 8, 9, 10 spots and that was a deflating blow.”
Fleck said that the Cardinals bright spot continued to be the play of Cunningham. Fleck praised Cunningham for the production he has been giving Ball State out of the fifth slot.
“For him to come in as a freshman and doing what he has been doing is great,” Fleck said. “Our five spot is a lot stronger than it was in the spring thanks to his production.”
The Cardinals will have to recover quickly before their next tournament this Sunday. The team will head to the Kilmaric Golf Club in Powell's Point, North Carolina for the ODU/OBX Intercollegiate. The tournament runs from Sunday Oct. 22-24.
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