After coming off of a rough 12th place last weekend at the Gopher Invitational, the Iowa men’s golf team improved to tie for a fourth place finish out of 16 schools yesterday at the Golfweek Conference Challenge.

The Hawkeyes did drop, however. Coming off of a second-place lead by the end of the first round with a group score of 283 (-5), Iowa shot 295 on Monday, bringing them to 578 (+2) and eventually tying with Illinois State and Arkansas State at 871 (+7) on Tuesday.

Senior Alex Schaake struggled individually, starting the weekend off in sixth place and earning a 69 (-3). He finished off tied with teammate Benton Weinberg, in 33rd place with an individual score of 218 (+2). Starting from last season, Schaake has placed in the top-25 or better in 6 straight tournaments.

Weinberg moved up the leaderboard by 14 spots from start to finish, carding five birdies and registering Iowa’ s best round of the day on Tuesday.

Being back close to home gave Iowa an advantage. 

“The week was awesome from that standpoint,” head coach Tyler Stith said. “The Cedar Rapids Country Club did an amazing job. They’re great hosts, and we had a lot of Hawkeye fans up here, so we’re extremely grateful to have this opportunity to host and showcase one of the great, classic golf courses across the country.”

Sophomore Gonzalo Leal Montero and junior Joe Kim both tied at season-bests with three-over-par (219) through the weekend. Leal Montero was two-under-par through the first 10 holes on Tuesday, while Kim led the Hawkeyes in 11 birdies over the weekend.

Freshman Matthew Garside made his debut in Cedar Rapids, tying for 51st with a 225 (+9) and carding an even-par 72 in the first round.

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Both playing individually, freshman Garrett Tighe and junior Jake Rowe finished 87th and 89th for the weekend. Tighe, who made his Hawkeye debut in team scoring last weekend, registered four birdies and one eagle in the third round on Tuesday.

Ball State was crowned winners for the weekend, 853 (-11), followed by Campbell at 868 (+4).

The Hawkeyes have the next two weekends off before heading to South Bend, Indiana, to compete in the Notre Dame Fighting Irish Classic on Oct. 7-8. 

“We’ve have a lot of work to do,” Stith said. “There’s no doubt about it. We put in a lot of good work this week and felt like we were ready to go. The good news is that it’s still only our second tournament and we have a lot of golf in front of us.”