A season that began more than seven months ago for Ball State men’s golf finally reaches its climax this weekend in Westfield, Indiana.
After traveling all over the country from Wisconsin to Puerto Rico, the Cardinals fight 11 other conference foes for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Championship inside their home state at The Club at Chatham Hills.
Head coach Mike Fleck’s squad is coming off a second-place finish at last year’s MAC Championship, but this year he feels his squad’s mix of experience and depth will be a difference-maker.
“I think we are going to lean on the experience of guys like Kash, Ali and Braxton,” Fleck said. “We’ve got five really strong players, and I don’t even know if we’ve seen all five connect yet. If all five of these guys can connect, we are a dangerous squad.”
Falling just five strokes short of capturing the MAC title last season, sophomore Carter Smith said he only has one goal in mind for the weekend.
“Win,” Smith said. “It’s win or go home at this point.”
Smith, who was on the 2023 MAC Men’s Golf Championship All-Tournament Team, hasn’t forgotten how close his team was to taking home the championship last season.
“I finished in the top five, and if it wasn’t for one bad hole on the last day, I would’ve had a chance to win individually, and it ended up really hurting us down the stretch,” Smith said.
As for Ball State’s championship lineup, Smith will be starting at the No. 1 position, with juniors Kash Bellar and Braxton Kuntz starting at the No. 2 and No. 3 positions, respectively. Redshirt junior Ali Khan will round out the experienced core that Fleck mentioned, following behind in the No. 4 position. Playing in his hometown for the MAC Championships, freshman Alec Cesare rounds out the Cardinals’ lineup in the No. 5 spot.
Graduate transfer Jensen Klondike will fill Ball State’s final spot as an additional travel player.
From the very start of the Cardinals’ season, Fleck mentioned the importance of getting four to five quality scorers on the board in every contest. Recently, Ball State’s depth has begun to carry a more significant portion of the load with the rise of Braxton Kuntz.
Kuntz, who has been Ball State’s best scorer during the past month, has risen from the bottom of the Cardinals’ tournament lineups earlier this season into a top-3 position at this weekend’s MAC Championships.
“Peaking at the right time is critical to bringing home the title,” Kuntz said. “We have a good enough team to compete with the top teams in the country and a good enough team, if we play well collectively, to bring home the trophy.”
Heading one hour west to Westfield, Indiana, Ball State will have a chance to redeem last season’s runner-ups with a MAC title. The Cardinals will tee off April 26 to begin their three-day event at Chatham Hills.
Contact Nick Shelton with comments via email at nicholas.shelton@bsu.edu or on X @NickS9954
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