Las Vegas isn’t just a hotbed for those looking for a quick gambling thrill. On Nov. 6, the city of sin will host the eighth-annual National Collegiate Golf Championship.
Iowa students with a passion for golf will have a chance to show off their skills, and they might just wake up in Vegas.
The Recreational Services’ golf tournament will be held at Finkbine Golf Course on Sept. 27; it is open to students, faculty, and the general public. It is a two-person best-ball event and is one of 47 qualifiers on college campuses nationwide for the national event.
The sign-up deadline is today, but golfers who wish to register can still do so up until midnight. Registration is done online through the Collegiate Golf Alliance website. The link to register can be found on the Recreational Services website, www.recserv.uiowa.edu.
The golf tournament has been a staple in intramural sports at the UI and has been the largest qualifier for the past three years. Last year, 52 golfers participated in the event.
“I think it proves that we market this event very well,” said Dan Payne, a Recreational Services graduate assistant. “We focus a lot on the marketing of our programs here at Rec Services, and the numbers prove it.”
The partnership with Finkbine Golf Course has also been a key aspect for the event’s success, said Mike Widen, an associate director of Recreational Services.
Along with a round of golf, Rec Services will also offer food, as well as a raffle with prizes such as Oakley sunglasses, sleeves of golf balls, shoe bags, and Nike hats. There will also be a chipping contest in which golfers can attempt to chip a ball into a basket to win a free drink.
Most importantly, the winner of the student division earns a spot in the national championship, a three-day event held at Silverstone Golf Club in Las Vegas. Rec Services covers the cost of the hotel and the entry into the tournament, leaving the winner only covering the cost of travel.
“We have the option of paying for the student winner or the overall winner,” Widen said. “But we’ve always said that we want our students to represent us and the university.”
The winners of the faculty and community divisions will receive bids to play in the national event, but they will have to pay their own way.
Silverstone Golf Club is a 27-hole, par-72 course that boasts three holes more than 600 yards in length, including the longest hole in Nevada, a 653-yard par 5. Finkbine is also a par 72, but the longest hole is 562 yards.
Iowa golfers have been very successful at the national championship since Rec Services began holding a qualifier in 2004.
Since then, Iowa golfers have finished in the top 10 four times, the highest being a second-place finish in 2005.
Last year, Joseph Leuman and Brian Nelson won the Iowa qualifying tournament by shooting a 65, making eight birdies and zero bogies. Unfortunately, Nelson and Leuman were unable to make the trip to Las Vegas to play in the championship because of midterms.
Now a junior at Iowa, Nelson said that although he hasn’t registered for the tournament yet, he plans on playing again this year.
“[Leuman] and I hadn’t played more than one or two times [together] before last year’s tourney,” he said. “But we managed to play well.”
