Ball State women's golf struggles in Spring Break Shootout

<p>Women's golf sophomore Manon Tounalom tees off at hole nine during the Cardinal Classic on Sept. 19 at Players Club Woodland Trails. <strong>Kaiti Sullivan, DN File</strong></p>

Women's golf sophomore Manon Tounalom tees off at hole nine during the Cardinal Classic on Sept. 19 at Players Club Woodland Trails. Kaiti Sullivan, DN File

Ball State women’s golf had a rocky weekend, finishing ninth among 13 others in the annual Spring Break Shootout in Dade City, Florida.

The Cardinals teed off Monday morning for 36 holes and finished the tournament on Tuesday morning.

After the first two rounds of tournament play on Monday, Ball State sat in seventh place heading into the final round on Tuesday morning. The Cardinals were again led by sophomore Manon Tounalom (+8) followed by freshman Liz Kim (+10), freshman Emily Knouff (+11) and junior Sydney Anderson (+12) who were all in the top 35 individually. Tounalom led the pack by sitting in 16th place after 36 holes.

Although the rain brought some schools trouble, it didn’t seem to phase Ball State.

“We handled those conditions very well," said coach Katherine Mowat. "It rained for the entire morning round, and then there were strong winds in the afternoon. We had good course management, especially in that second round.”

Also scoring for the Cardinals on the first day of the tournament was senior Morgan Nadaline as well as freshmen Holly Anderson and Reece Malapit who competed as individuals. The pair both scored 16 over par to round out their first day of competition.

The team as a whole posted scores of 311 and 305 to place it in seventh after Monday. Topping the leaderboard after two rounds were Western Kentucky (+14), Jacksonville (+20), and Florida Gulf Coast (+28). These scores were compared to Ball State’s placement at 40 over par.

However, the Cardinals could not improve on their performance, dropping two places into ninth out of 14 schools. Topping the overall leaderboard is Western Kentucky (+16) who took a commanding lead over the rest of the field. Western Kentucky was followed by Jacksonville (+40) and Florida Gulf Coast (+45), compared to Ball State’s ninth place performance (+65).

Kim and Sydney Anderson led the third and final round of play, going five over par. Tounalom (+7), Knouff (+8) and Nadaline (+10) rounded out the team score. Kim and Tounalom led the Cardinals, finishing tied for 21st through all three days.

Every tournament the Cardinals play gives them more time to prepare for the Mid-American Conference championships next month.

“We have a nice two-week break. We need to sharpen up and fine tune and make sure that we are ready to compete,” said Mowat. “Once Eastern Kentucky hits, we are in championship month, and we play every weekend. All our sights are on that last weekend in April with our conference championship.”

The Cardinals will tee off in the EKU Colonel Classic on Friday, March 30 and Saturday March 31 in Richmond, Kentucky.

Contact Drew Pierce with comments at dlpierce2@bsu.edu.

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