Smith Finishes Second in Little Rock; Cardinals Race Past Five Teams on Final Day

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Carter Smith finished his second round at the Everett Buick GMC Classic with a 6-under par 66, then proceeded to fire a 3-under 69 in the final round Tuesday afternoon to finish one stroke out of first place in Ball State's best individual finish of the season. As a team, meanwhile, Ball State fired a 9-under round that featured subpar scorecards from three of its other five golfers.

Overall, the Cardinals flew from 14th place after round two, to a final standing in ninth place with a round that was bettered Tuesday only by UAB's -11 (277). Ball State matched the final round total of host and champion Little Rock at 9-under 279.

Smith (70-66-69--205), playing as an individual in this event, finished only 14 holes of the second round before Monday's suspension due to darkness. Prior to suspension, he had birdied the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th holes in succession. He finished the 14th through 17th holes on Tuesday morning, shooting par on each, to complete his second round of 18 holes after a shotgun start beginning on the 18th hole. His 66 was Ball State's lowest round of the season, leaving him one stroke behind Little Rock's Archie Smith as the tournament leader.

In the final round, Ball State's Smith continued his steady play and he overtook the Trojan's Smith, briefly holding the lead before Troy's Jake Springer (204) emerged as the champion with a 7-under par final-round flurry. Smith trailed Springer by two strokes with one hole to play, and cut the margin with a two-stroke birdie on the par-3 17th hole.

"I can't say enough about Carter," said veteran coach Mike Fleck. "To birdie his last hole and post -11 over the three rounds is exactly what he needed, great event for him."

Ball State's best round of the day was actually turned in by Braxton Kuntz (74-74-68--216) whose 4-under par 68 was only a stroke better than 69s by both Ali Khan (77-74-69--220) and Gavin Hare (84-70-69--223). Ball State rose five spots in the standings on the final day of play. Kuntz and Khan both fired birdies on six different holes, Tuesday, and the Cardinals got eagles from Smith, Hare and Kash Bellar (77-75-73--225) in a full-team effort. Happy Gilmore (79-75-74--228), making his second college start, finished three strokes behind Bellar.

"I'm really proud of our round today and the guys responding," added Fleck. "Similar to Purdue, we were one of the best rounds of the day led by Braxton, Ali and Gavin. We showed fight today and our talented group made a lot of birdies. Our team DNA needs to be more like this. We have the horses and a deep roster, we just need to connect better than what we have."

The Cardinals take a week off before hoping to connect for a final time in their fall schedule, Oct. 25-27 at the White Sands Bahamas Invitational in Nassau, Bahamas.

Ball State Individual Results, 54 holes (Final)
Individual Carter Smith (205): 36-34—70 | 34-32--66 | 35-35--69 (-11, 2nd)
No. 1 Braxton Kuntz (216): 33-41—74 | 34-40—74 | 33-35--68 (E, 20th)
No. 2 Ali Khan (220): 40-37—77 | 38-36—74 | 31-38--69 (+4, 35th)
No. 5 Gavin Hare (223): 39-45—84 | 35-35—70 | 35-34--69 (+7, 41st)
No. 3 Kash Bellar (225): 35-42—77 | 40-35—75 | 36-37--73 (+9, 55th)
No. 4 Happy Gilmore (228): 40-39—79 | 36-39—75 | 38-36--74 (+12, 66th)

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Smith Finishes Second in Little Rock; Cardinals Race Past Five Teams on Final Day

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Players Mentioned

Kash Bellar

Happy Gilmore

Gavin Hare

Ali Khan

Braxton Kuntz