By Jess Westendorf
The Iowa men’s golf team will open its spring slate today at the Big Ten Match Play Championships in Palm Coast, Florida.
The golfers have not only been getting ready to open the spring season but also working with new interim assistant coach Jeff Schmid.
On Feb. 2, head coach Tyler Stith announced that Schmid was the newest addition to the Hawkeye coaching staff.
“We are excited to welcome Jeff into our program,” Stith said in a release. “He brings a wealth of competitive experience and knowledge of the game. The team will certainly benefit from his involvement this spring.”
Schmid is an alumnus of the Iowa golf program and a former team captain. After college, he started a professional golf career and toured until 2008. He brings 18 years of professional golf and nine years of coaching to the Hawkeyes.
Iowa not only gained experience on the coaching side but also through its newest players.
The Hawkeyes welcomed redshirt freshman Alex Moorman, who transferred from Kansas to join the Hawkeyes this winter. He made three starts for the Jayhawks with a 73.44 average in the fall.
Moorman has made the leap into Iowa’s lineup, and he will be joined by seniors Raymond Knoll and Carson Schaake, junior Sam Meuret, sophomore Matthew Walker, and freshmen Ryoto Furuya and Alex Schaake.
Iowa will be one of 11 teams competing for the title this weekend. Michigan State comes in as the No. 1 seed followed by No. 2 Michigan. Iowa will be No. 8.
Tom Watson’s Conservatory Course will host the Big Ten Match Play Championships. The course stretches 7,777 yards as a par-72 and is Florida’s longest.
In two of the last four years, the Hawkeyes have finished in third place at the Big Ten Match Play Championship. During the 2015 competition, the Hawkeyes pulled through and defeated the No. 4 seed Maryland to force a tiebreaker and secure third place.