Heath Ziglar led the BGSU men’s golf team to a fifth place finish at the FirstEnergy Intercollegiate tournament in Akron this past weekend, the final tune-up for this weekend’s Mid-American Conference tournament.

Ziglar tied for third place with a total score of 213 [71-70-71]. The team finished with a total of 883.

“This was a great weekend for Heath,” said Falcon coach Garry Winger. “He really needed this weekend and now I know he’s really excited for the MAC Championships. Hopefully he will bring the same mentality and the same game that he brought to Firestone [Akron].”

The 286 the Falcons shot in the second round of the tournament was their lowest round score of the season.

“I was very pleased with everyone and how we played as a team,” Winger said.

Teammate Trevor Spathelf also stepped up this weekend and hit a 69 in the second round. This was the low individual score of the weekend for the Falcons.

This tournament was the motivational boost that the team needed going into the MAC Championships, which begin Thursday in Indianapolis, Ind.

“It gave us confidence heading into the MAC tournament that we were lacking, obviously,” Winger said.

Winger and his team have been trying to “put three good rounds together” in a tournament for the past few weeks. It is now time to see what the Falcons can do at the league meet.

“The whole MAC is good. Every team is good,” Winger said. “We’ve now got to put four rounds together in order to compete. In college golf today, you can’t afford a bad round.”

The team has had some trouble in the first rounds of the past few tournaments but this last fifth place finish looks like the team has worked out their kinks.

Competing at the MACs for the Falcons will be Ziglar, Spathelf, Jace Walker, Tommy Lopez and Dan McIntyre.

“So, we’re going to need to compete and play hard and let the chips fall where they may,” Winger said. “If that gets us first, great, if it gets us third, great, if it gets us eighth, then hey, we played good. We’ll just have to see.”