Iowa men’s golf finishes third at Big Ten Match Play Championships in Florida
The event was the first the Hawkeyes have played as a team since Oct. 26.
Iowa head coach Tyler Stith grabs a flag out of the 18th hole during a tournament at the Donald Ross Course at the Cedar Rapids Country Club in Cedar Rapids on Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017.
February 6, 2022
The Iowa men’s golf team placed third at the Big Ten Conference Match Play Championships in Palm Coast, Florida, this weekend. The annual tournament was held at Hammock Beach Resort’s Island Course.
Iowa was seeded seventh ahead of this year’s Big Ten Conference Match Play Championships. The Hawkeyes finished second after receiving a pre-tournament five seed last year.
Iowa kicked off the 2022 Big Ten Conference Match Play Championships with 4-1 and 3-2 wins over 10th-seeded Minnesota and No. 2 Northwestern, respectively.
Iowa sophomore Callum Macfie and juniors Ronan Kleu and Mac McClear all went 2-0 on day one of the tournament. Before his bout with Minnesota’s Harrison Arnold, Macfie had never played a collegiate match.
“The team had a great mindset this morning,” head coach Tyler Stith said in a Friday release. “We got off to a really good start in our first match against Minnesota, and we just kind of carried that momentum all the way through. We were in control more or less the whole morning, winning four of the five matches all pretty comfortably. The guys were just really solid. They had a great mindset — prepared, focused, and ready for the day.”
Macfie played a pivotal role in the Hawkeyes’ win over the Wildcats too. Macfie trailed by two with five holes to play, then he started to rally. The Englishman squared the match before hole 18.
On the 18th hole, Macfie converted a birdie putt to defeat Northwestern’s Cameron Adam. With McClear and senior Gonzalo Leal Montero already in the clubhouse, Macfie’s win proved to be decisive.
“This afternoon, we played against a really good team in Northwestern,” Stith said via release. “We knew it was going to be a tough match and come down to the wire. We had a couple of guys flip matches. Gonzalo was behind, then he came back and won. Callum was behind, and then came back and won. Callum birdied the last hole to win his match and clinch the victory for the team. It was just a great day overall. The guys worked extremely hard.”
Michigan State ended Iowa’s run in the event Saturday morning. The Spartans handed the Hawkeyes a 4-1 loss. Sophomore Garrett Tighe was the only Iowa player to pick up a win. McClear, Leal Montero, and Kleu never led in their respective third-round matches.
Despite the loss, Iowa still managed to pick up a win over Purdue to secure its third-place finish at the 2022 Big Ten Match Play Championships.
“Credit to Michigan State, they played well in the morning match,” Stith said in a Saturday release. “The weather conditions were challenging. It was cold and windy all day. The guys showed a lot of character and bounced back with a win this afternoon.”
Iowa will compete in its first stroke play event of the season Feb. 14-15 at the Purdue-hosted Puerto Rico Classic at the Rio Mar Beach Resort.
