Hawkeyes host the annual Golf Week Conference Challenge
By Rod Engblom
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The Hawkeye men’s golf team is ready meet the test at the annual Golfweek Conference Challenge held at Spirit Hollow Golf Course in Burlington.
The tournament will consist of three 18-hole rounds spanning three days beginning at 9 a.m. today and Saturday and an 8:30 a.m. shotgun start on Sept. 27.
The Hawkeyes will send five players, junior Raymond Knoll, senior Nate Yankovich, junior Carson Schaake, freshman Matthew Walker, and senior Voramate Aussarassakorn.
“The last week we had really good practices every day, and the guys are excited about the opportunity to play a home golf tournament against a really strong field,” said head coach Tyler Stith. “We got five guys who are playing really good golf right now and are anxious to compete again.”
The team is focused and hungry for a win after placing ninth as a team at the Gopher Invitational earlier this month.
Putting was an issue for Yankovich during the Gopher tournament, and he is determined to turn that around.
“I hit a lot of lines at Minnesota two weeks ago, and nothing really went in,” he said. “It wasn’t really as much of a technical change as just the mental mindset of kind of getting back into believing that I’m going to make every putt that I hit.”
Sometimes a couple missed close putts can determine the direction of the round for the golfer and confidence in his putting was all Yankovich needed to get back on track.
All five Hawkeyes have played the Spirit Hollow Golf Course numerous times.
“We’ve had this tournament since 2010, so the upperclassmen have played there,” Stith said. “In Nate’s case, it’s his fourth year competing in the event, and we’ve made a couple extra trips down and played, and then Matt Walker who grew up in Iowa in Ottumwa, so he’s played the golf course a bunch, too.”
This gives the team an advantage; even though it isn’t their home course, it is much like a home match because they have plenty of experience playing the course.
The team also likes the course a lot, and Schaake is confident it’s a golf course he can score on.
“You have to know where your golf ball is going, but if you can roll a putt well, you can shoot pretty low out there,” he said. “Last year, I got fourth in it, and I’m looking for a little better result this year. I just need to put three solid rounds together, just stay patient, and now I know I can make a lot of birdies out there, so I’m going into the week trying to win.”
With a team hungry team, Stith is confident that the Hawks will come out on top.
“All five guys are playing with a lot of confidence, and I know that this golf course is a place that we’re all very familiar with, and it suits us very well,” he said. “They’re anxious to go back and compete because we’re not happy with how we finished the last event, and I think that they want to kind of right the wrong and go back and put on a really strong performance this week.”
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