Men's Golf Opens Spring Season With The Match Play In South Florida

DADE CITY, Fla. -- Last year at this time, Ball State blitzed through an eight-team field in its annual match play event at Lake Jovita Golf and Country Club to earn its second straight title in the event, and its fourth in 13 years. Playing at No. 1 in the Cardinals' lineup, Carter Smith was so dominant in three matches that he never played the 17th or 18th holes on the Lake Jovita South Course, earning Mid-American Conference Golfer of the Week honors after needing only 46 of 54 holes to defeat his competition.

This week, the Cardinals return to the par-72, 7,153-yard Lake Jovita South Course for The Match Play 2025 while hosting seven schools beginning the spring collegiate season: Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Dayton, Evansville, Loyola-Chicago, Richmond and USC Upstate. Ball State battles Evansville in an opening round match on Monday morning, with Central Michigan facing Richmond, Bowling Green taking on Loyola and Dayton dueling USC Upstate.

Playing at No. 1 for Ball State again, can Smith repeat his 2024 dominance in the Cardinals' annual match play event? Can he continue an October hot streak that included seven consecutive rounds of par or better and low rounds of 64 and 66 in the Cardinals' final fall events in October? He fired a combined 68.33 average over final rounds last fall in Arkansas and The Bahamas.

Smith leads a six-man Cardinals' lineup that consists of No. 2 Braxton Kuntz, No. 3 Gavin Hare, No. 4 Ali Khan, No. 5 Happy Gilmore and No. 6 Avery Mahoney. Absent from the Ball State rotation for the first time this year is senior Kash Bellar who recovers from an unfortunate burn accident, expecting to return over the next month.

Kuntz paced the Cardinals with a 72.20 stroke average last fall. Hare averaged 72.53 in the first semester of his college career, highlighting an exciting fall in which he and Gilmore (73.27) quickly made impact as freshmen. Steady Khan (73.60) returns for his final college semester and transfer Avery Mahoney climbs back into the lineup after playing through back issues in his first semester at Ball State.

"Carter is one of our best players capable of excellence," head coach Mike Fleck said of Smith. "He was first team All-MAC last year and was probably in the running for MAC Player of the Year. I won't be surprised if he is back in the mix for player of the year again."

Fleck, the 2024 MAC Coach of the Year who continues his 27th year as the Cardinals' head coach, looks forward to another match play event at Lake Jovita. Saturday, he said, "We've been anticipating getting back into it for a while now and it's always a great event to start the spring season. Lake Jovita is in as great of shape as I've seen for this event and the forecast is incredible the next couple of days.

"I expect our guys to be ready to go and compete at a high level. Match play is always a such a competitive and emotional format so I'm excited to see how we handle it and respond to the challenges match play presents."

Play takes place with first and second rounds on Monday. A championship round is scheduled for Tuesday.

Ball State Lineup for The Match Play 2025
No. 1 - Carter Smith, Jr., Sellersburg, Ind. | 72.73 over 15 rounds
No. 2 - Braxton Kuntz, Sr., Winnipeg, Manitoba | 72.20 over 15 rounds
No. 3 - Gavin Hare, Fr., Tipton, Ind. | 72.53 over 15 rounds
No. 4 - Ali Khan, R-Sr., Columbus, Ohio | 73.60 over 15 rounds
No. 5 - Happy Gilmore, Fr., Bloomington, Ind. | 73.27 over 15 rounds
No. 6 - Avery Mahoney, So., Burlington, Ontario | 76.67 over 6 rounds

Past Champions:
2012 – Ball State
2013 – Bowling Green
2014 – Ball State
2015 – Eastern Michigan / Toledo
2016 – Eastern Michigan
2017 – Notre Dame
2018 – Miami
2019 – Miami
2020 – Drake
2021 – Connecticut
2022 – Eastern Michigan
2023 – Ball State
2024 -- Ball State

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Men's Golf Opens Spring Season With The Match Play In South Florida

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Players Mentioned

Kash Bellar

Happy Gilmore

Gavin Hare

Ali Khan

Braxton Kuntz

Avery Mahoney

Carter Smith