DADE CITY, Fla. — The Drake men's golf team battled in a tightly contested championship match at Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play at Lake Jovita Golf & Country Club before falling via tiebreaker to host Ball State on Tuesday, Feb. 7.
"It was a competitive match and was close all the way," head coach
Matt Lewis saidn. "I'm proud of how we played to get to this point. Four of the matches came to the final hole or two."
The No. 7 seed Bulldogs took the No. 1 Cardinals to the wire.
Shayne Patel and
Nick Pittman tied with Ali Khan and Carter Smith in their respective matches.
Jack Dumas (2&1) and
Silvester Tan (3&1) secured wins over their opponents at positions No. 1 and No. 2.
Ball State's Griffin Hare recorded a 4&2 win over
Lucas Scherf and
Nikko Ganas lost to Colin Nasser (1UP) to force a tie in the match.
The first two tiebreaking measures were not enough as a third tiebreaker was needed for just the second time in Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play history and utilized for the first time in finals history. The third tiebreaker consisted of a comparison of two of the highest handicapped holes of the tied matches. Ultimately, hole 13 gave Khan and Smith an edge over Patel and Pittman to clinch the Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play title for Ball State.
"There was real pressure," Lewis said. "Our team handled a challenging situation well. You could sense the nerves and tension out there. It was disappointing to end up on the losing side, but I couldn't be prouder. We had our chances. This experience will help us build for the future. You can't simulate that type of pressure in practice."
The Bulldogs claimed third place last year at Earl Yestingsmeier Match Play and will now add a runner-up trophy to the case.
Drake men's golf will head to Palm Valley Golf Club in Goodyear, Ariz., Feb. 26-28 for its first 54-hole tournament of the spring season at the Loyola (Md.) Intercollegiate.
