Photo by: Michael Hickey
Cardinals Return to Purdue Fall Invite as Men's Golf Fall Slate Continues
September 21, 2024 | Men's Golf
MUNCIE, Ind. -- For the fourth straight year, the Ball State men's golf team ventures an hour to the west to battle in the Purdue Fall Invite. This year, Ball State returns to West Lafayette for the Boilermaker Invitational in April, too.
Striving for consistency while getting a veteran roster settled in a year of high expectation, Ball State enters this week's tournament with a lineup of Braxton Kuntz, Ali Khan, Kash Bellar, Carter Smith and Avery Mahoney.
Kuntz extended a hot streak in the Cardinals' first tournament, continuing a torrid pace that started last April and lasted through a spot in a PGA Tour event in August. He paced Ball State's lineup with a third-place finish (71-69-70--210) at the Bryan National Collegiate in Greensboro, N.C., but he was the only Ball State player to place among the top half of the event's 67 competitors. Kuntz fired sub-par rounds on three straight days in North Carolina two weeks ago and he'll hope to improve on a 25th-place finish (71-69-76--216) in last year's Purdue Fall Invite.
Bellar led the Cardinals in last year's Purdue fall event, finishing in 17th place overall (73-71-70--214) at 1-over par, just two strokes ahead of Kuntz. Ball State finished 10th out of 15 teams last year and looks for a top-ten finish again, while battling a field that consists of Purdue, Miami (Ohio), Southern Illinois, Toledo, Wisconsin, Illinois State, Indiana, Iowa, Northern Illinois, VCU, Western Kentucky, Marquette, Butler, Purdue Fort Wayne.
Beginning Sunday, the 15 schools play 36 holes on Purdue's par-72, 7,500-yard Kampen-Cosler Golf Course, then conclude the event with a final round of 18 holes on Monday.
Played concurrently, on Purdue's Ackerman-Allen course, individuals from participating schools will compete in a separate event. Redshirt junior Colin Nasser leads a Ball State trio that includes freshmen Happy Gilmore and Gavin Hare. Gilmore and Hare made their college debuts at an individual event last weekend, finishing third and fifth, respectively, in the Golfweek "Put Me In Coach" individual tournament at Delaware Country Club.
Ball State Lineup at Purdue Fall Invite, Sept. 22-23
1 - Braxton Kuntz, Sr. | Winnipeg, Manitoba
2 - Ali Khan, R=Sr. | Columbus, Ohio
3 - Kash Bellar, Sr. | Peru, Ind.
4 - Carter Smith, Jr. | Sellersburg, Ind.
5 - Avery Mahoney, So. | Burlington, Ontario.
Individual - Happy Gilmore, Fr. | Bloomington, Ind.
Individual - Gavin Hare, Fr. | Tipton, Ind.
Individual - Colin Nasser, R-Jr. | Zionsville, Ind.
Striving for consistency while getting a veteran roster settled in a year of high expectation, Ball State enters this week's tournament with a lineup of Braxton Kuntz, Ali Khan, Kash Bellar, Carter Smith and Avery Mahoney.
Kuntz extended a hot streak in the Cardinals' first tournament, continuing a torrid pace that started last April and lasted through a spot in a PGA Tour event in August. He paced Ball State's lineup with a third-place finish (71-69-70--210) at the Bryan National Collegiate in Greensboro, N.C., but he was the only Ball State player to place among the top half of the event's 67 competitors. Kuntz fired sub-par rounds on three straight days in North Carolina two weeks ago and he'll hope to improve on a 25th-place finish (71-69-76--216) in last year's Purdue Fall Invite.
Bellar led the Cardinals in last year's Purdue fall event, finishing in 17th place overall (73-71-70--214) at 1-over par, just two strokes ahead of Kuntz. Ball State finished 10th out of 15 teams last year and looks for a top-ten finish again, while battling a field that consists of Purdue, Miami (Ohio), Southern Illinois, Toledo, Wisconsin, Illinois State, Indiana, Iowa, Northern Illinois, VCU, Western Kentucky, Marquette, Butler, Purdue Fort Wayne.
Beginning Sunday, the 15 schools play 36 holes on Purdue's par-72, 7,500-yard Kampen-Cosler Golf Course, then conclude the event with a final round of 18 holes on Monday.
Played concurrently, on Purdue's Ackerman-Allen course, individuals from participating schools will compete in a separate event. Redshirt junior Colin Nasser leads a Ball State trio that includes freshmen Happy Gilmore and Gavin Hare. Gilmore and Hare made their college debuts at an individual event last weekend, finishing third and fifth, respectively, in the Golfweek "Put Me In Coach" individual tournament at Delaware Country Club.
Ball State Lineup at Purdue Fall Invite, Sept. 22-23
1 - Braxton Kuntz, Sr. | Winnipeg, Manitoba
2 - Ali Khan, R=Sr. | Columbus, Ohio
3 - Kash Bellar, Sr. | Peru, Ind.
4 - Carter Smith, Jr. | Sellersburg, Ind.
5 - Avery Mahoney, So. | Burlington, Ontario.
Individual - Happy Gilmore, Fr. | Bloomington, Ind.
Individual - Gavin Hare, Fr. | Tipton, Ind.
Individual - Colin Nasser, R-Jr. | Zionsville, Ind.
Players Mentioned
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