Just two weeks after breaking school records for 18- and 54-hole tournament scores, Ball State Women’s Golf headed to a place where they have had many successful outings in recent history.
However, despite the Cardinals’ sense of familiarity at the Colonel Classic in Richmond, Kentucky — which the team has only missed once in the last decade without cancellations — Ball State placed ninth out of 14 schools, finishing with a total score of 917 and 53-over-par.
The Colonel Classic kicked off March 29, but two hours of frost delays ended up making a day with two full rounds of golf to play even longer. Head coach Katherine Mowat said the Cardinals were delayed for an hour before they left their hotel and stayed on the course until 8 p.m. — far past their expected end time.
“The sun and no wind [Monday] was great news for playing, but the problem with that was the frost had nowhere to go,” Mowat said. “By the time we ate dinner and got to our rooms, it was close to 9 p.m., so it was an exhausting day.”
Ball State scored 310 in Monday’s opening round, good for 11th place. The Cardinals followed that up in the second round with a score of 295, and with one round left, Ball State sat eighth place with a total score of 605. Through the first two rounds, senior Liz Kim tied for eighth out of 81 golfers.
Despite the Cardinals’ success Monday, though, a bogey-filled Tuesday resulted in Ball State falling to ninth place. Ball State recorded 28 bogeys during the invitational’s final round March 30. Nine of the 14 teams put up their worst score during the final round of the invitational.
Kim’s eight bogeys Tuesday dropped her to 17th out of 81 golfers. After the first 36 holes, Kim had just five total bogeys. However, Mowat said one bogey-filled round doesn't affect her moving forward.
"She represents the continual growth that we aspire for all of our athletes,” Mowat said. “Every year, every tournament she gets smarter, more skilled, more prepared for the competition and she represents that continual growth. She also represents the complete mental dedication to the program and to the game of golf."
Mowat said junior Hadley Mowitz was also a bright spot for the Cardinals, finishing with a team-best score of 74 in the final round.
"Hadley Moritz's round [Tuesday] was very solid,” Mowat said. “With the course being a little bit harder than yesterday, it was a really solid round of golf from start to finish for her to help her total a little bit."
Eastern Kentucky senior Ragga Kristinsdottir was the individual invitational champion, finishing seven-under-par. The Cardinals will finish out their regular season at the Dolores Black Falcon Invitational April 10-12 in Bowling Green, Ohio, before the Mid-American Conference Championships.
Contact Hunter Skillman with comments at hjskillman@bsu.edu or on Twitter at @HunterSkillman1.
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