Khan Leads Golfers, With Top Saturday Rounds From Kuntz and Hare
April 05, 2025 | Men's Golf
Senior Ali Khan (71-73-72--216) paced Ball State over all three rounds of the par-71, 7,114-yard track just outside of Nashville. After firing par 71 on Friday, he shot 2-over par 73 during a suspended round that ended Saturday morning and he finished with a 1-over 72 during a final round on Saturday afternoon. The Columbus, Ohio native finished a stroke ahead of freshman Gavin Hare (73-73-71--217) who was steady in each round and posted the Cardinals' best card on the final 18 holes.
Khan, Hare and senior Braxton Kuntz (75-70-74--219) were the only Ball State golfers to manage a round of par over the two days of rain-soaked golf. Kuntz opened his second round with an eagle on the 15th hole to spark a Ball State surge that saw the Cardinals rise into 11th place early in the final round. But inconsistencies plagued Ball State golfers and nobody fired par more than once.
"Overall it was a pretty disappointing outcome down here in Tennessee," said 2024 Mid-American Conference coach of the year Mike Fleck, trying to mold his lineup in advance of the 2025 MAC Championships later this month. "It was a grind the past two days and at times we handled it well, but we cannot expect to compete for a MAC championship in a few weeks with what I saw. We are way too inconsistent and at some point we need to figure out how to compete and not give away shots like we do. Missing fairways, missing greens and not making putts makes it hard to be competitive."
Ball State closes the regular season schedule in two weeks at Purdue's Boilermaker Invitational, April 19 and 20. The MAC Championships are conducted in Grove City, Ohio, April 25-27.
