“It was an awful start.”
Five words described how head coach Mike Fleck felt about the opening holes for the Ball State men's golf team who opened up their first round at the bottom of the leaderboard at the Purdue Fall Invitational.
Regardless of the start, Ball State was able to turn some problems around.
“I was proud of them, how they played the rest of the day,” Fleck said. “We were probably in the top half of the team scoring-wise if you kind of scratch the start.”
Monday - Round One
In the number one spot for the first time this year, graduate student Joey Ranieri led the Cardinals in round one alongside Griffin Hare, each of them shooting a 4-over-par score of 76.
“It is voted on by coach [Fleck] and players so it's nice to know that the team has my back,” Ranieri said. “They are the ones that put me in this position to be the number one guy so to have that respect it's quite an honor. You know, any one of us honestly could play in that number one position. So to have those guys vote for me, it's pretty special.”
Bellar shot 6-over-par 78 with 12 pars in his first 18 holes of the tournament.
Wiseman shot 7-over-par 79 which would be closely followed by Khan with an 8-over-par 80 performance.
Monday - Round Two
Ranieri would again lead the Cardinals in second-round action shooting even-par, dropping four strokes from round one and having four birdies in the process.
“It really wasn't much of a difference,” Ranieri said. “I think, from round one to round two. I hit the ball a little bit better in the second round. I was able to eliminate big numbers. I made some doubles in the first round and just had to make a few little simple adjustments that played a little smarter and then was able to roll a few putts which is nice.”
Khan, who also had four birdies in round two, shot 3-over-par 75 in his second round.
Hare would continue with another 4-over-par 76 followed by Bellar’s 5-over-par 77.
Wiseman would round out the Cardinals with a 10-over-par 82.
Tuesday - Round Three
It would be Bellar who would lead the Cardinals in third-round action, Bellar shot 2-over-par 74 with 14 pars in the round.
Ranieri would second Ball State, shooting 3-over-par in his final round to shoot a team-best 7-over-par for the invitational as a whole.
Khan posted a 5-over-par 77, Hare shot 9-over-par 81 and would be followed by Wiseman who shot 10-over-par 82.
The Cardinals ended up finishing 12th out of 15 teams, shooting 916 for the tournament.
Ball State will finish its fall season next week from Oct. 17-18 at the University of Dayton Flyer Invitational.
“Right now, we just have to try to figure out our lineup honestly,” Fleck said. “We're going to probably come home and do a little bit of qualifying and potentially see a lineup change depending on how things shake out and try to go finish on a high note over at NCR [Country Club].”
The Cardinals are looking forward to the last tournament, where they placed third out of ten teams last year.
“I think we just as a team, we all just need to make a few little adjustments here and there,” Ranieri said. “I think everyone knows what we need to do on an individual level. To be able to get ourselves ready. I know we played pretty well there last year. And we should feel like we could go out and win the tournament. Hopefully, we can repeat that success but this time come away with a trophy.”
Contact Elijah Poe with comments at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ElijahPoe4
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