The Iowa men’s golf team notched its second top-five finish of the year by taking fifth among 11 teams in the Rod Myers Invitational at the Duke Golf Club in Durham, N.C., on Sunday.
The Hawkeyes finished with a three-round total score of 9 over.
“A top-five finish was kind of our goal,” head coach Mark Hankins told The Daily Iowan. “We played pretty solidly and got five pretty good scores from the guys.”
Iowa was again led by Steven Ihm. The junior finished in a tie for 10th place with a three-round score of even par. He started his third round with a triple bogey but then played nearly perfect golf for the rest of the day with 4 birdies and 13 pars.
Joseph Winslow carded a 2-over highlighted by a third round score of 1 under. The sophomore fired 6 birdies in the final round, which led the team.
Ian Vandersee finished tied for 20th place with a score of 3 over. Vandersee was tied for 6th place headed to the final round, but seven bogeys lead to a 4-over round.
“It was nice to see three players in the top 20,” Hankins said. “We met most of our short-term individual goals in what was a really tight tournament.”
Ryan Marks struggled in the first two rounds with a score of 12 over, but he turned things around on the last day. Three birdies and only 3 bogeys gave Marks a score of 1 over. The junior also hit the only eagle of the weekend for the Hawkeyes in the first round.
Brian Bullington was the most consistent Hawkeye in the tournament. The sophomore had two 2-over rounds and one 3-over round and finished tied for 35th.
The Hawkeyes will take to the links again on Friday through Oct. 21 when they take part in the U.S. Collegiate Championship in Atlanta.
— by Tommy Reinking