Men’s Golf Goes Low to Take Third at Notre Dame

Sunday, October 9

SOUTH BEND, IND. (WARREN GOLF COURSE)

All Day

Ball State University

Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic

Johnny Watts

Photo by: Brian Drumm

October 11, 2016 | Men's Golf

Complete Results

Watts, VanDeventer again finish top-10 to lead Cardinals

LEADERBOARD

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The Ball State men's golf team used the fourth-lowest round in program history to move up to third place on the final leaderboard Tuesday at the Fighting Irish Gridiron Golf Classic.

The Cardinals fired a round of 278 (-2) to improve upon their fifth-place position entering the day. Their 54-hole total of 849 (+9) was the third-best in school annals.

UTEP (-5) held off a hard-charging Notre Dame team (-4) by one shot to win the tournament. Ball State edged Eastern Michigan (+11) by two strokes to take third in the field of 15 teams. Illinois State (+14) rounded out the top 5.

The Cardinals counted four rounds of even-par or better on the final day at Warren Golf Course. Johnny Watts and Michael Makris carded 69s, while Michael VanDeventer and Keegan McKinney both shot 70.

Watts was Ball State's top individual finisher in a tie for fourth at 1 under par, while VanDeventer tied for ninth at 1 over. The duo combined for 25 birdies over the three rounds as both players finished among the top 10 for the second straight event.

Dating back to last week's Firestone Invitational, VanDeventer has shot even-par or better in five of six rounds and posted an aggregate score of 4 under. Watts has played those same six rounds at 5 under, shooting in the 60s three times.

Makris tied for 37th this week, followed by McKinney in 44th and Timothy Wiseman in 54th. McKinney rebounded after an opening 79 to play the final two rounds in 1 under par.

Notre Dame's Blake Barens held onto his overnight lead in the race for individual medalist honors, winning the tournament by one shot over UTEP's Frederik Dreier at 9 under.

Ball State now has two events remaining on its fall schedule. The Cardinals will play Oct. 23-25 in the Old Dominion/OBX Collegiate in North Carolina and Nov. 4-6 in the Ka'anapali Collegiate Classic in Hawaii.

Ball State Scores
3. Ball State, 849 (+9): 287-284-278
T4. Johnny Watts, 209 (-1): 68-72-69
T9. Michael VanDeventer, 211 (+1): 68-73-70
T37. Michael Makris, 217 (+7): 75-73-69
T44. Keegan McKinney, 218 (+8): 79-69-70
T54. Timothy Wiseman, 221 (+11): 76-70-75
87. Colin Proctor*, 241 (+31): 79-82-80

*competed as an individual