The Marquette men’s golf team finished in a tie for 13th out of 16 teams in the Cardinal Collegiate in Simpsonville, Ky., earlier this week.

The Golden Eagles started the tournament strong, but fell off considerably in the third and final round, dropping from eighth to 13th in the rankings.

Senior Kelly Kretz and junior Matt Haase led the Golden Eagles with an overall score of 219 and actually finished tied for 27th place in the individual rankings.

Haase and Kretz both felt the team, as a whole, played the last 18 holes very poorly on a course they should have capitalized on.

“Our performance was pretty mediocre overall, especially since it was a pretty easy course to score on,” Haase said.

Kretz hit the best shot of the tournament for Marquette when he drove the green on the par-4, 10th hole after hitting his first tee shot out of bounds. He went on to make par and then birdied the next hole.

Though the shot was impressive, Kretz felt he could have, and should have, made more like it. He was frustrated with his play in the last round.

“I made two more bogeys than birdies, and they were unnecessary bogies,” Kretz said. “I left a lot of shots on the course today.”

Marquette began play in round one on Monday morning and got off to a great start in the tournament. The Golden Eagles finished the round in a tie for sixth place with Miami of Ohio and played well from top to bottom. Senior Ben Sieg and Haase led the way with scores of 71 for the round and finished the round in a tie for 14th place.

The team continued to play well during the second round later in the day. Though they dropped two spots to eighth place overall, Haase and Sieg climbed to a tie for ninth after repeating their scores of 71.

The third and final round proved to be a disappointment, however, as Marquette was unable to close out the tournament on a high note. Kretz had the best day for the Golden Eagles, shooting a 74, with Haase coming in second for the team with a 77. The most significant drop belonged to Sieg, as his score of 82 on Tuesday left him 51st in the individual standings.

Coach Steve Bailey was disappointed with his team’s struggles on the final day but is prepared to move on to the next challenge.

“I had a chance to evaluate the team this weekend,” Bailey said. “We aren’t going to dwell on it, and we are going to take the positives from Monday and move forward.”