The Iowa men’s golf team has one more order of business in West Lafayette before focusing on Big Ten championships at the end of the month.

The Hawkeyes will head to Purdue to compete in the Boilermaker Invitational with its 18-team field. That field includes four Big Ten teams, among them Illinois, which won the Big Ten Match Play Championships in February.

Last week, the Black and Gold nearly made up 8 strokes to win the Hawkeye-Great River Entertainment Invitational at home, but they came up short by a single shot to champion Kansas. However, the team took away some valuable lessons from the strong Sunday.

“Competitively, I think we got some of the rust off, and we feel a little bit better in competition,” Iowa golf coach Mark Hankins said. “I think we’re well prepared from that competition. It helps us as sort of a practice.”

Hankins also stressed how the near-comeback boosted the squad’s morale heading into the homestretch of the season.

“Obviously, when you play well, it gives you confidence,” Hankins said. “We still have to work to put ourselves in that same position to put ourselves in contention to win a golf tournament.”