Bellar and Cardinals Tighten MAC Championship Standings in Round 2

GROVE CITY, Ohio -- Kash Bellar birdied seven out of 11 holes during one stretch at Pinnacle Golf Club, Monday, and finished with a 5-under par 67 as Ball State shaved nine strokes off its opening round scorecard to return among the leaders of the 2025 Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championships.

"What a bounce back round by Kash today!," exclaimed 2024 MAC Coach of the Year Mike Fleck. "I'm really proud of his resolve and fight on a day where scoring from the top teams and players went low. We also had a good round from Carter [Smith], while Avery [Mahoney] got off to another really good start before letting a few slip coming down the stretch."

But just as the Cardinals toyed with program records throughout the day and rose all the way to the top of the team standings, at one point with a scorecard at -11, so, too, did other teams have low-scoring days on the par-72, 7,462-yard layout, in southwest Columbus. Ball State had eight bogeys down the stretch, reminiscent of Sunday, to finish the second round at -4. Eastern Michigan surged late to finish at -12 and Kent State also finished the round at -12, after peaking at -16.

"It was another crazy day where we got as high as first place in the team standings, but again just too many mistakes scattered in there to finish off what would have been a really great team round," added Fleck. "We have a lot to play for tomorrow and with strong winds and rain in the forecast, you never know. We need to be ready to compete and see what happens."

Even at par after the first round, Kent blistered the course Monday to take its own lead in the team standings, eventually caught by new team leader EMU (561). Ball State (577), fifth after round one at +5, enters Tuesday's final round in fourth place behind the Eagles, the Flashes (564) and Northern Illinois (572)

Individually, Bellar rebounded from a rough finish in round one to leap 20 spots in the standings. From a place among early leaders on Sunday, he finished as a non-counter before attacking the course Monday. He had four birdies on the front nine, and three on the back, to finish as one of seven golfers 5-under or better in a low-scoring second round.

Bellar (78-67--145), currently in 18th place, sits third among Cardinal scorecards overall, behind Avery Mahoney (70-73--143) and Carter Smith (73-70--143), tied in ninth place.

Bellar and Cardinals Tighten MAC Championship Standings in Round 2

Players Mentioned

Kash Bellar

Avery Mahoney

Carter Smith

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