Following a rough pair of rounds that saw only a combined seven total golfers hit under par between both rounds, Ball State rallied back in the third round. After placing 13th through two rounds, the Cardinals leapfrogged four teams to finish the Tiger Invitational in 9th place.
“We just hung in there,” said head coach Mike Fleck. “There were challenges everywhere, and it was tough. We just battled, and that is probably what I’m most proud of the guys for—their mentality today when it got really tough again.”
The Auburn University-hosted invitational was slated to be one of Ball State’s toughest challenges of the season, with a total of eight ranked teams within Scoreboard’s NCAA top 100 participating.
“We were excited about the opportunity to play here,” said Fleck. “We’ve been looking forward to this stretch for a while; this is the championship part of the season for us leading up to the MAC (Mid-American Conference) championships.”
Redshirt junior Ali Khan epitomized the Cardinals' early struggles and late comeback. After hitting for 7-over-par in the competition's opening round, Khan rallied in the latter loops with scores of 73 (1-over-par) and 76 (4-over-par). Khan completed the competition as Ball State’s individual leader, finishing 24th on the individual leaderboard.
Monday - Round One & Two
The Auburn University Club course proved to be a difficult one for each of the 17 teams involved in the Tiger Invitational’s opening round. Every team involved, including the hosting No. 2-ranked Auburn Tigers, finished at least 10 strokes over par.
“It was the theme throughout,” Fleck said. “It was a really demanding golf course with a tough championship setup.”
Ball State finished the day in 15th place with the top golfer in the Cardinal’s lineup, junior Kash Bellar, finishing last out of their five competitors at 9-over-par in round one.
Junior Braxton Kuntz was Ball State’s top finisher in the opening round with a first-round total of 76 (4-over-par).
The second round of play was cut short at the invitational late Monday night as rain delays earlier in the day pushed the round to be played until dusk.
Tuesday - Round Two & Three
The Cardinals began the process of turning around their performance at the Tiger Invitational when they finished up the second round, improving their team total by three strokes ahead of the competition’s final round.
It was, however, the third round that saw Ball State fully embrace the turnaround, with sophomore Carter Smith and freshman Alec Cesare both improving their second-round totals by seven strokes.
Cesare and Smith followed behind Khan’s team-high 24th individual placement, finishing in 39th and 44th, respectively.
“We are really looking forward to our next two events leading up to the MAC championship; they are great tournaments with great competition, and they’ll get us ready for what we expect later in April,” Fleck said.
Ball State men’s golf returns on April 5, heading to Nashville, Tennessee, for the Vanderbilt University-hosted Mason Rudolph Championship.
Contact Nick Shelton with comments at nicholas.shelton@bsu.edu or on X @NickS9954.
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