Smith and Cardinals Poised to Challenge for White Sands Championship on Sunday
October 26, 2024 | Men's Golf
Smith (69-64--133) enters Sunday's final round just three strokes off the pace of tournament leader Kieron Van Wyk (130) of Charleston, two behind Hudson Wiebel (131) of Houston and one behind Tim Chan (132) of Eastern Michigan. He shot 3-under with five birdies on Friday, but on Saturday he never shot over par and sizzled his way up eight spots on the leaderboard. His streak of six straight rounds under par includes a 6-under round in Little Rock, Arkansas, two weeks ago, that matched his previous low round.
The individual champion of the White Sands Bahamas Invitational receives a PGA Tour exemption and a spot in the PGA Tour's 2025 Puerto Rico Open in March. Smith's 13 birdies are fourth among all players through 36 holes -- two behind Van Wyk, one behind Chan and one more than Wiebel -- and his -8 scorecard Saturday was the second-lowest card in the tournament so far (Wolfgang Glawe of Houston was -9 on Friday; Chan was -9 on Saturday).
For the second straight day, all four Ball State scorers shot par or lower. Ball State's 14-under par showing on Saturday was the lowest team round of the day, led by Smith and freshman Gavin Hare (72-68--140) who shot 4-under par and catapulted 12 spots up the leaderboard into 16th place. Braxton Kuntz (70-71--141) and Kash Bellar (71-71--142) shot fired 1-under rounds on Saturday. Ali Khan (70-72--142) and Happy Gilmore (72-72--144), playing as an individual, shot shot even par.
"What a performance today from our guys!," exclaimed enthusiastic head coach Mike Fleck. "Two things that stand out, a phenomenal career-low round from Carter Smith and our guys having the low team score today. Carter's bogey-free, eight-birdie round is really impressive while we were able to count four scores under par again as a team. Every counter round through two rounds have been red numbers. I'm excited for our guys and their opportunity to compete in the lead pairing. We will look to continue to be in attack mode on a golf course that's giving up a lot of birdies."
Smith's second round, relative to par (-8), tied the Cardinals' program record -- done three times previously including rounds by teammates Braxton Kuntz and Kash Bellar. Overall, Ball State's -14 second-round score and its-22 36-hole total both are the second-best figures in school history, relative to par.Behind a team-leading 25 holes of par by Hare, good for fifth in the tournament, Ball State's 114 holes of par is second in the tournament behind Rutgers' 115. Paired with the Cardinals' 45 birdies, third-most in the tournament, Ball State's 159 holes of par or better leads the field, just ahead of Houston's 158 (108 par, 48 birdies, 2 eagles).
Third-round play on the par-72, 6,943-yard track at The Ocean Golf Course resumes Sunday morning with another 8 a.m. ET shotgun start.
Ball State Individual Results, 36 holes
No. 1 Carter Smith (133): 33-36—69 | 31-33--64 (-11, 4th)
No. 4 Gavin Hare (140): 36-36—72 | 35-33--68 (-4, 16th)
No. 2 Braxton Kuntz (141): 34-36—70 | 36-35--71 (-3, 19th)
No. 5 Kash Bellar (142): 36-35—71 | 35-36--71 (-2, 23rd)
No. 3 Ali Khan (144): 33-37—70 | 36-38--74 (E, 34th)
Individual Happy Gilmore (144): 34-37—71 | 39-34--73 (E, 34th)
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