Firm greens, challenging greens to putt on and tall roughs were some of the challenges the Ball State women's golf team saw from Oct. 3-4 at the Butler Fall Invitational as described by head coach Cameron Andry.
The Cardinals placed 9th out of 15 teams and first-year Sarah Gallagher finished within the top ten, tying for seventh.
Ball State was without recent record holder, Kiah Parrott.
“She is battling an injury,” head coach Cameron Andry said. “Hoping it is nothing too serious that is going to keep her out for an extended period of time. She just was not in a position to be able to play this week”
MONDAY - Round One
With the 9:00 a.m. starting times, this was the coldest the Cardinals had played in this year.
Although it is colder, Andry does not attribute it to any performance on the course.
“There was a nice chill in the air but there wasn't much wind so it was pretty comfortable,” Andry said, “Honestly, I don’t really think that was much of a factor, it was much more just about how the course was playing.”
First-year Sarah Gallagher led Ball State in the first round with a score of 5-over-par 75. Gallagher would shoot 4-over on the back nine, and shaved off strokes on the front nine shooting 1-over-par.
“Sarah has a great mentality, that is probably her greatest asset is the mentality that she brings,” Andry said. “She's got a lot of game, so she can hit a lot of shots and she has a lot of tournament experience. She is probably more prepared for making adjustments on the fly which was required for this week.”
Playing in the number one spot for the Cardinals was first-year Madelin Boyd. She would go on to shoot 10-over-par 80 in her opening round on Monday.
First-year Jasmine Driscoll shot 13-over-par 83. Graduate student Peyton Broce posted a score of 15-over-par 85, which would be followed by a 17-over-par 87 from second-year Paige Hillman.
MONDAY - Round Two
After a slower start in the first round, the Cardinals dropped nine strokes as a team from the first to the second round.
“I think it just took us a little while to make that adjustment,” Andry said. “I think part of that is probably attributed to us being a little lacking in experience. Some more veteran teams probably make those adjustments faster Monday morning and I think that was the biggest factor.”
After shooting 13-over-par in her first round, Driscoll was able to shave off seven trokes to shoot 6-over-par 76 in her second round.
Gallagher stayed consistent in her second round, only adding one stroke in her efforts, shooting 6-over-par 76.
Broce was also able to cut strokes off of her first round, she lost four strokes to shoot 9-over-par 79. She would be followed by 13-over-par Hillman and 14-over-par Boyd.
TUESDAY - Round Three
The third round would open up with around an hour and 15-minute delay due to frost.
The final round action was led by second-year Hillam. Hillman shot 6-over-par 76.
Gallagher was able to secure herself within the top ten at the end of the third round, shooting a 7-over-par 77 for the day and 18-over-par throughout the tournament.
Driscoll posted 8-over-par 78 followed by Boyd with 9-over-par 79. Broce shot 12-over-par 82 to round off the Cardinals' play.
“I told them this afternoon after we finished up that we have to do a little better job in the practice rounds on making some of these adjustments that we are making during the tournament, that is probably causing us to be the king of slow starts. Hopefully, we can get off to a better start and then we won't have to show as much improvement as the tournament goes on,” Andry said.
Contact Elijah Poe with comments at elijah.poe@bsu.edu or on Twitter @ElijahPoe4
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