The Iowa men’s golf team closed out its fall season at the Fallen Oak Collegiate Invitational in Biloxi, Mississippi, on Tuesday.

Three teams co-hosted the event: Ole Miss, Southern Mississippi, and Mississippi State. The invitational was held at Fallen Oak Golf Course in Biloxi, Mississippi, with 12 teams competing.

Auburn captured the tournament title with a total team score of 843 — good for a whopping 21 strokes under par. The Tigers closed out their fall season with their second tournament title in the year following a win in the Maui Jim Classic in September.

The next closest team to Auburn was Mississippi State, but the Bulldogs finished 18 strokes behind the Tigers.

On the individual stage, SMU’s Matthew Foster won the title with a total score of 208 — good for eight strokes under par, narrowly beating out Auburn’s Jackson Koivun by one stroke.

Right from the start, Iowa dug itself into a deep hole with rough course management, ultimately finishing day one with a total team score of 298 — putting the Hawkeyes in 11th place out of 12 teams heading into day two.

Despite the shaky round one start, the Hawkeyes did find some positives on the individual level on the day.

Iowa graduate fourth-year Josh Lundmark and third-year Ian Meyer ended the day under par with scores of 70 and 71, respectively. Lundmark competed individually, while Meyer competed in the starting lineup.

Lundmark, who transferred from Cornell University over the offseason, thus had his best showing as a Hawkeye, taking the score as momentum when the season resumes in February.

After the dismal first-round team performance, any hopes of a rebound in round two dashed away rather quickly come tee times the next day.

Iowa ended the second round with a team score of 306 — 28 strokes over par — to maintain its 11th-place finish.

Iowa fifth-year senior Mac McClear led the pack with a score of 73 in round two, good for one over par but just 33rd place for the round.

None of the other Hawkeyes competing came close to par on the day, the next closest being second-year Hogan Hansen, who finished five strokes over par.

But Iowa showed signs of life in the final round, overtaking Southern Mississippi for 10th place. Hansen led the team in scoring with an even-par round, and McClear and Meyer weren’t far behind, both finishing one over par.

Overall, Meyer led the Hawkeyes in scoring with a score of 222 — good for six over par on the weekend and tying Mississippi’s Hunter Logan for 30th place.

The Hawkeyes’ 2023-24 campaign will continue in February after a winter of practice and development, the spring season kicking off at the Purdue-hosted Puerto Rico Classic in San Juan, Puerto Rico, from Feb. 11-13.

Women set to travel to Hawaii

The Iowa women’s golf team will return to action from Oct. 23-25 at the Rainbow Wahine Invitational in Honolulu, Hawaii.

The event will be hosted by the University of Hawaii and will be held at Kapolei Golf Course on the island of Oahu.

The Hawkeyes haven’t competed in nearly a month, as the team backed out of the Yale Invitational due to inclement weather on the east coast.

Iowa is coming off of a second-place finish at the Red Raider Invitational on Sept. 26 — the program’s best regular season finish since winning the UNI Invitational in 2020.

Along with tournament-host Hawaii, 15 other teams seek to close out their fall schedules strongly while enjoying the 80-degree weather.

Iowa is one of only two teams from a major conference competing in the event, joining the Baylor Bears. The Bears have finished at or near the bottom in most of their tournaments so far this season, including a 12th-place finish at the Tar Heel Invite in North Carolina.

After a tough season opener, Gonzaga enters the tournament fresh off of two top-five finishes, including a third place showing at the Harbottle Invitational in Tacoma, Washington.

New Mexico State has rolled through the fall portion of its schedule, earning top-five finishes at all four events it has competed in. The Hawkeyes and Aggies have some familiarity with each other as both clubs competed in the Badger Invitational from Sept. 17-19.

Nevada comes off of a stellar third place showing in the Golf Iconic Classic, hosted by New Mexico State. In each of the Wolfpack’s three tournaments to open the new campaign, Nevada has secured top 10 finishes in all of them.

The rest of the field includes Utah Valley, UNC-Asheville, Murray State, Cal State-Fullerton, Cal State-Northridge, Kennesaw State, Sacramento State, UC-Davis, British Columbia, and Osaka Gakuin.