Ball State University Athletics
Clouser First, Men?s Golf Third after MAC Day 1
May 01, 2015 | Men's Golf
LEADERBOARD
CHARDON, Ohio -- McCormick Clouser played his way to the top of the leaderboard Friday and the Ball State men's golf team positioned itself in third place after the opening two rounds at the Mid-American Conference Championships.
The Cardinals were steady in the morning round but really made their move with a score of 287 (-1) in the afternoon. It matched the lowest round of the day by any team in the field on the Sand Ridge Campus of the Mayfield Sand Ridge Club.
Ball State owns a total of 585 (+9) at the midway point of the 72-hole event. Miami is first at even-par 576, while Eastern Michigan is second at 584 (+8). The third round will be played Saturday and the final round Sunday.
Clouser is 4 under par after back-to-back rounds of 70 and holds a three-shot lead over Miami's Greg Conrad and Toledo's Chris Selfridge. The senior from Bluffton, Ind., torched the par 5's Friday to the tune of 8 under for the day, including a pair of eagles in the opening round.
Clouser (70), Michael VanDeventer (71) and Johnny Watts (71) all fired under-par rounds in the afternoon, while the Cardinals also counted a 75 from Michael Makris. VanDeventer's round was highlighted by five birdies, including three straight to close his opening nine.
VanDeventer is tied for fifth individually at 1 over par, while Watts is tied for 14th at 3 over. Both are freshmen and are playing in their first MAC Championships along with fellow freshman Makris and junior Tyler Ostrom.
Ball State was fifth on the leaderboard after opening with a round of 298 (+10) but then got its second round off to a fast start and was able to maintain it all the way through.
The Cardinals will go off in the final wave of tee times for Saturday's third round, playing with Miami and Eastern Michigan. Ostrom will be the first Ball State player off the first tee at 12:40 p.m. Live scoring is available at golfstat.com.
