Mike Fleck has been talking all spring about Golfweek’s National Golf Invitational. He wanted his players to know what was on the other side of the.500 barrier as he guided them over.
The NCAA and NGI will only grant postseason eligibility to a team that has a winning regular season record. To maintain consistency, the NGI adopted this same postseason guideline for teams playing after their conference championship. Fleck stressed to his players the importance of achieving a position that is postseason eligible, especially with a new chance on the table. This year, the NGI debuts at Ak-Chin Southern Dunes near Maricopa in Arizona.
Ball State’s spring schedule was not a cakewalk. Ball State won the Butler Invitational in March 28. Then, they ran the Power 5 gauntlet.
He said, “We played at Vanderbilt in a very strong field.” “We played at Purdue, where there were Oklahoma and several Big 10 teams. It was a good field.” It was a good field at Illinois, where they had about five or six Big 10 clubs.
We had to work hard to make sure that we got the thing above.500. At several of these events, we held service.
Ball State is ranked at No. Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings ranked Ball State at No. 132, but it landed as No. Golfweek’s spring rankings only ranked him at 97.
Ball State’s performance at the Mid-American Conference Championship was the key test and the one that ultimately secured Ball State an NGI. The Cardinals would have qualified for NCAA regionals with a win, but they needed to finish third or higher to be eligible for postseason. Fleck laid out both scenarios plainly.
He said, “We felt we had a winning team and that our play was energized.”
Ball State moved up from seventh place after the first round and into second, and then in the final round the Cardinals maintained their position, paired together with Kent State or Northern Illinois. Ball State was still unable to accept the fact that Northern Illinois won the AQ. A NGI bid helped make it easier.
Fleck, speaking of the NGI’s debut, said: “It is exciting and something college golf needed for a long time to keep up with other sports at the university level.” For us to be part of the first event is something special, I believe. It carries more meaning and weight when you are the first. Being involved with this event will be a great opportunity for us.
Fleck led a team into the postseason for the last time in 2013, when Ball State, a Washington State University, was assigned to a NCAA regional in Pullman. After winning a sudden-death playoff against San Diego State, they advanced to the NCAA Championship.
Fleck’s players are now competing in independent events after the semester has ended. Ball State golfers dominated the Indianapolis Open, taking two of the top three places, while a third finished T-15. Fifth-year senior Joey Ranieri also won the local U.S. Open qualifier held in Cincinnati.
Ak-Chin Southern Dunes is expecting Ball State to be a fast starter.
Fleck replied, “It’d be great to be the one.” “That’s why this year’s event is so special.”
Washington State was not ready to call it quits after its historic Pac-12 Championship run last month. While Pono Yanagi, a senior, played as an individual in an NCAA regional this week at Morgan Hill, California and finished T-32, the rest of his teammates continued to prepare for NGI.
White added, “I believe the other guys also want to play more.” We want to play in a regional, but this is the first step. It’s a taster of postseason. It’s a chance to show what our players are capable of.”
Washington State would require the NCAA to grant Yanagi an exemption to compete with his team in the NGI, after having already competed in a regional. White stated that the NCAA has not yet granted a waiver, which left Washington State’s lineup in limbo by mid-week.
The Cougars are still in a good mood as they continue to train, play the qualifying rounds, and focus on the areas of their game that Ak-Southern Dunes is going to test.
After finishing third in the Pac-12s, the Cougars may have some extra wind in their sails when they arrive in Arizona. Washington State put on a brave performance, despite having their backs to the wall. They needed a fifth place finish or higher in order to qualify for postseason.
White compares the conference title to the Husky Invitational that his team won at the beginning of the season. At Pac 12s, the goal was not to finish in the top five but to play golf and see what happened.
“You never know in a six-count-five-format,” White said of Pac-12s. “That’s a completely different animal. The fight our guys showed was amazing to watch. It could have easily gone wrong at some points, but our guys hung on and played some great golf.
“We were paired with Arizona State, and Stanford. “They got to see how other teams were built and what they look like. They stood up and played their own game, and we came out with a fantastic finish.”
It’s now time to plow right into the playoffs.
Ball State and Washington State are joining 11 other schools in 12 states for this inaugural postseason tournament that will grow in popularity over the coming years.
