The Iowa men’s golf team sits in third place among 15 teams after the first two rounds of the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate, hosted by Baylor and SMU, at the Royal Oaks Country Club in Dallas.

The squad carded a two-round score of 8 under and trails Oklahoma State at 9 under and Texas Tech at 11 under headed into the final day.

The Black and Gold had four players shoot under par in the second round. It was the kind of contribution head coach Mark Hankins has been searching for this season.

“Everyone pitched in,” he said. “It was perfect weather, and we had our heads straight before Hole 1.”

Ian Vandersee is tied for second place after a first round 6 under and second round 1 under. He trails Maxine Blandin of SMU by 2 strokes. Vandersee had only 2 bogeys in both rounds while holing 9 birdies.

Sophomore Joseph Winslow is tied for 11th individually with a two-round score of 3 under. After a first round of 6 over, sophomore Brian Bullington holed 5 birdies and only 2 bogeys or worse for a score of 2 under. He is tied for 47th.

Junior Steven Ihm was another player who struggled in the first round with 7 bogeys or worse, but he fared better in the second round. Only 2 bogeys and 3 birdies brought his score to 5 over.

Ryan Marks was the only Iowa swinger to hit under par in the first round, but he followed it up with a 7 over second round in which he hit 7 bogeys or worse.

“Tomorrow is a situation we’ve been in before,” Hankins said. “We’ve got nothing to lose. We might as well go out there and attack it. We’re the underdogs, but if we’re patient out there, we’ll be fine.”