Refusing to cave in under any circumstances carries McCulla, Redbirds to NCAA regional berth

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. — The golf ball’s flight didn’t match the power or precision of the swing, which told Alex McCulla the only logical explanation had to be an equipment failure.

Looking at the face of his driver, he saw the problem.

“I step up and put a pretty big swing on it, and the ball literally went about 100 yards in the air,” McCulla said of his tee shot off the par-5 first hole in the opening round of the Missouri Valley Conference men’s golf championship at Oakwood Country Club in Coal Valley, Ill.

“The ball had zero spin. Absolute zero. So it rolled and ran for another 100 yards. It ended up not being horrible. I could still lay it up and have a wedge to the green. But the driver face caved in, so I knew I had to get a replacement.”

Well, not immediately.

A rules official met with the Illinois State University sophomore and his playing partners on the second hole and inspected the club. Because there was no visible crack on the club face — a cave-in doesn’t constitute a crack — McCulla could not replace his driver until the round was over.

“I’m like, ‘If you want a crack, I can find a crack on the next hole. It might be artificial, but I can find a crack,’” McCulla said with a laugh.

It eventually cracked on its own, but he never did. McCulla survived the opening round, shooting a 1-over 72, before replacing the driver head. A few adjustments later, he went out and shot a 4-under 67 in the second round, setting the stage for a top-10 individual finish as the Redbirds cruised to the team title and a berth in the NCAA regionals.

The Quincy Notre Dame graduate finished at 2-under 211 and tied for eighth while ISU posted a 16-under 836 total — the lowest three-round team score in program history and the second lowest in the history of the Missouri Valley Conference — to bury the field by 13 strokes.

“We were looking it up, and the only team better was Oklahoma State, which says a lot,” McCulla said.

Oklahoma State was a member of the MVC from 1936-57 and shot an 833 in 1949. Since leaving the MVC for the Big Eight Conference and eventually the Big 12 Conference, the Cowboys have won 11 NCAA Division I national championships.

“Pretty good company,” McCulla said.

The Redbirds will see plenty of good company in the NCAA regionals. ISU will play at one of the six regional sites May 15-17. The NCAA selection show at noon Wednesday on the Golf Channel. The Redbirds expect to be sent to Eagle Eye Golf Club in Bath, Mich., or the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club in Norman, Okla.

“Maybe we’ll get sent to Las Vegas,” McCulla said.

No matter where it is, he better have a working driver in his bag.

The ominous start to the MVC championships could have been worse, but McCulla made due with his dilapidated driver for much of the first round, even if it cost him some distance.

“I kept hitting it,” McCulla said. “I found out it was mainly caved in more toward the toe of the sweet spot. If I hit it off the heel, it would still fly decently. It only went so far, but it was better than hitting it on the toe and having it die like a dead duck. So I hit my 5-wood and my 3-iron for a while, but I still pulled the driver. The ball was flying funny, but I could keep it in play for the most part.”

He pulled the driver on the par-4 16th — a drivable 340-yard hole — and felt like he hit it in the center of the sweet spot.

“When I made the swing and felt the ball, I was like, ‘That’s on the green. Gotta be,’” McCulla said. “I saw it fly, and I knew that one just did it for the club. I looked down and the face was fully caved in. The face changed colors because it was so inward.”

After wrapping up his round, he went to the clubhouse and purchased a driver head that was the same make and nearly the same model as he used.

“It was a much higher loft, so I put it lower on the shaft which opened the face up a bunch,” McCulla said. “So I had to play around with it.”

He spent 30 or so minutes on the driving range with his father, Mike, and teammate Valentin Peugnet hitting balls and dialing in the driver.

“I hit it probably five times and was like, ‘This is going to work. This is going to be fine,’” McCulla said.

Then came the second round, and the first swing set a curious tone.

“I absolutely beamed a tree,” McCulla said.

The par-5 first hole requires hitting a high draw to carry the trees on the dogleg left.

“That’s just not in my arsenal, so I kind of had to force it,” McCulla said.

But it turned out OK. McCulla was left with a second shot about 280 yards from the green and knocked it to within 20 or so feet. He two-putted for birdie and was off on one of his best rounds of the season. He made six birdies against two bogeys and climbed more than 10 places on the leaderboard.

He started the third round with no issues on No. 1, making birdie and setting the tone for playing the first 14 holes in 2-under. A triple bogey on the par-5 15th knocked him back, but he made three straight pars to end it and stay in the top 10.

With family and friends in the gallery on the closing stretch and no pressure because of the sizable team lead, McCulla enjoyed the moment.

“There was a good crowd gathering,” McCulla said. “That was fun.”

It could get bigger and better depending on how the regionals play out.

“Anything is possible,” McCulla said. “Hopefully we can keep playing well.”

The Redbirds already know they won’t cave in under any circumstances.