March 21, 2010
MARANA, AZ – The University of Iowa men’s golf team is one of eight teams remaining on the championship side of the bracket midway through the quarterfinals of the Callaway Collegiate Match-Play Championship. After an upset over fourth-seeded Arizona State, the Hawkeyes made it 15 holes into their match with Colorado State before running out of daylight in Marana, AZ.
In their first round match, the 13th-seeded Hawkeyes knocked off Arizona State in a 3-2 decision. The Black and Gold found themselves down 0-2 through two matches after sophomores Brad George and Chris Brant dropped their individual matches 3 & 1 and 6 & 5, respectively.
Sophomore Barrett Kelpin got the ball rolling with a 1-up victory before junior Vince India took his match in a 2 & 1 decision. Junior Brad Hopfinger sealed the deal for Iowa with a 1-up win over ASU’s Jesper Kennegard, currently ranked 17th in the nation.
“The last three matches that we needed to win went down to the last couple holes and I thought that our guys showed a lot of focus,” said Head Coach Mark Hankins. “I felt the guys stuck in there tough and made some birdies down the stretch on a tough course.”
Iowa’s upset sent them to the quarterfinals where they challenged Colorado State through 15 holes before calling the day due to darkness. The Hawkeyes are down 2-1-2 with four individual matches to be decided.
India has a two-hole advantage over his opponent with three holes remaining while Hopfinger and Kelpin are all square through 15. George is 1-up with three holes to go and Brant’s match ended early with a 6 & 5 decision in favor of CSU’s Dustin Morris.
“We need to come out focused tomorrow morning and do our best to win another match,” added Hankins. “Win or lose, we’ll have a second match tomorrow, so we need to stay on course and continue to play hard.”
Stanford, Southern California, Texas A&M, UNLV, San Diego and New Mexico are the six remaining teams, along with Iowa and Colorado State, left on the championship side of the bracket.
The Hawkeyes will continue their match against 12th-seeded Colorado State Monday morning at 8 a.m. (MT). A win will send them to the semifinals to face the winner of the Stanford-Southern California match. Follow the action live at golfstatresults.com.