Iowa men’s golf to host inaugural Calusa Cup
The event’s nine-team field features some of the top collegiate golf programs in the nation.
Benton Weinberg takes a starting shot during a golf invitational at Finkbine Golf Course on Saturday, April 20, 2019. Iowa came in first with a score of 593 against 12 other teams.
April 1, 2021
This weekend, Iowa men’s golf will host the inaugural Calusa Cup in Naples, Florida.
The three-day, 54-hole stroke play event will begin Sunday and feature what could be the best field of the 2020-21 college golf season.
Of the nine teams competing in the event, four reside in the GolfStat’s top 10 in the nation: No. 1 Florida State, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 7 Wake Forest, No. 8 North Florida.
Top 100 teams like Florida, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Purdue, and Marquette round out the tournament field.
The nine programs competing have won a combined 13 national championships.
The inaugural Calusa Cup was actually supposed to take place last year from April 5-7, but it was canceled because of COVID-19.
Before the event kicked off last year, Hawkeye head coach Tyler Stith thanked Calusa Pines Golf Club for allowing the event to be played on its links.
“It’s a huge honor to host at Calusa Pines Golf Club,” head coach Tyler Stith said in a release last year. “Not many clubs of Calusa’s stature are willing to open their doors. I applaud the club for supporting collegiate golf. We’ve been fortunate to attract a quality field of teams and look forward to putting on a premier event.”
This year’s field features three of the GolfStat’s top 10 Division I golfers, including Florida State senior John Pak. Pak is ranked second in GolfStat’s top 10 and third in the Men’s World Amateur Golf Rankings.
RELATED: Iowa men’s golf falls to Florida in dual match
Calusa Pines Golf Club is widely known as one of the finest golf courses in the country, ranked inside Golf Digest’s list of the top 100 tracks in America.
The course was also recognized as this year’s second-best private club in Florida by GolfWeek, trailing only Seminole Golf Club, which is frequented by numerous PGA and LPGA Tour professionals.
The Hawkeyes are as well-prepared as any team in this week’s field, as Iowa participated in a match-play dual with Florida at Calusa Pines on March 29.
Although the Hawkeyes were defeated, 5-1, Stith believes the dual with the Gators will prove valuable for his team during the upcoming stroke-play event.
“It was a great opportunity to play a competitive round and get a chance to hit some pressure shots on a tournament golf course,” Stith said. I think the experience that we gained will really help us out a lot next week.”
Iowa senior Benton Weinberg — the only Hawkeye to best his opponent last Monday — considers the match a learning experience for the Hawkeyes.
“I think playing against Florida was really good for all of us,” Weinberg said. “We could all see what a top team in the country is like. A couple of guys just had bad days. But I think everyone can kind of see that if we are playing well, we can compete with them.”
Starting Sunday, Iowa will get its chance to see how stacks up against No. 14 Florida and many of the nation’s other top teams in a stroke-play setting.
