NOTE: This story has been updated to include Saturday’s tournament action.
By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – The Mid-American Conference (MAC) men’s golf championship is took place last weekend at Chatham Hills Country Club in Westfield.
For one of the golfers that participated, it was a homecoming. That golfer is Alec Cesare, now a freshman at Ball State. Cesare graduated from Westfield High School in 2023 and he was part of the Shamrocks’ state runner-up teams in 2022 and 2023.
“Not a lot of freshmen are in the same spot as I am, so it’s pretty cool to have the ability to come out here and be at the highest level,” said Cesare. Especially being from Westfield, coming back to the hometown. It’s pretty cool.”
Ball State finished the first round tied with Miami of Ohio, as both schools carded a five-under par 283. Kent State and Northern Illinois are tied for third with an even 288. All five Cardinals golfers placed in the top 21 of the leaderboard. Carter Smith, Kash Bellar (the 2021 IHSAA boys golf individual champion) and Ali Khan all scored two-under par 70s. Cesare and Braxton Kuntz both scored 73s, one over par.
“It was a good day,” said Ball State coach Mike Fleck. “We stayed patient. We didn’t get off to the start that some of the other teams were getting off to, making birdies early. To our credit, our guys stayed pretty patient. I think we had the lowest team score on the back nine holes collectively.”
Cesare began his round with back-to-back birdies before a double bogey on the third hole. He finished one over on the front nine, but played the back nine even, making two more birdies on the 10th and 13th holes.
“I played great,” said Cesare. “I just had one bad swing and then two drives that got a little unlucky and that caused me a couple bogeys.”
“He’s a fighter,” said Fleck. “He loves to compete. He had a couple of bad bounces, he said, on 16 and 17. But he’s a grinder. You know he’s always going to be in the round. You know he’s always going to give you his best score, whatever that is that day.” Fleck said that Cesare has “competed in every tournament for us,” going back to September.
Second-day lead
Ball State and Miami continued a similar battle for the lead on the tournament’s second day last Saturday. The Redhawks held a slim advantage at times during the early going, but the Cardinals surged ahead to a three-stroke lead once the day was finished. Ball State scored an 8-under 280 in Round 2 to Miami’s 283, which gave the Cardinals a two-day total of 563 (13 under). The Redhawks sat at a 10 under 566 after the second day.
“We did a good job again,” said Fleck. “Standing on that first tee with the rain and the wind, I didn’t know what to expect. And then the score started going low and we started making a bunch of birdies on that front nine, trying to take place with Miami. And I think we did a really good job finishing holes on the back side, just managing it and picking off a few birdies there too to maintain some space and have the lead.”
The leader of the second day was Bellar. The Peru graduate drained five birdies on his way to a three-under 69. He made two bogeys but was able to quickly erase them with birdies both times.
“I think I still left some shots out there, but you could say that about every round,” said Kellar. “I definitely played to the best of my ability today. Just so happened to be three under.”
“Kash is one of our best players,” said Fleck. “When his game is on and he’s hitting the ball where he wants to, he’s one of the best players out there and he’s proven that over the course of the first two rounds.”
Cesare did his part with a one-under 71, including an eagle on No. 13. He also birdied the No. 6 hole.
“He made that eagle and you could hear the roar and you saw that huge fist pump,” said Fleck. “He’s a kid that loves to fight and loves to compete.”
Smith and Khan both carded two-under 70s. Khan also eagled No. 13 in addition to making three birdies, while Smith drained four birdies. Kuntz scored a one-over 73, making four birdies.
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