The Iowa men’s golf team finished the first day of the U.S. Collegiate Championship alone in eighth place with a team score of 5-over 293.

No. 29 Iowa trails No. 4 Auburn and unranked USC, who are tied for first place at 6-under 282.

Sophomore Steven Ihm led the Hawkeyes through the first 18 holes with a score of 4-under 68. Ihm is in fourth place individually after he recorded five birdies and one bogey during day one.

Barrett Kelpin was the only other Iowa golfer to avoid ending the first round over par. The senior fired an even-par 72, shooting 1-under on the front nine and 1-over on the back nine.

Chris Brant carded a 75. He started off both the front and back nines with bogeys; he finished with four on the day.

Three big numbers got to Ian Vandersee’s scorecard. Vandersee triple-bogeyed the par-3 3rd and double-bogeyed both the par-4 14th and 16th en route to posting a 78. The redshirt freshman played 1-under golf on the other 15 holes.

Brad George — who posted a team high score of 7-over 79 on Sunday — is the first Hawkeye to tee off today. George will tee off at 9 a.m., and one Iowa golfer will tee off every 10 minutes thereafter until Kelpin tees off at 9:40 a.m.

— by Ben Schuff