March 17, 2011
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THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa men’s golf team will travel to Ballground, GA, to compete in the Callaway Collegiate Match Play Championship March 20-22. Georgia Tech will serve as host school for the 16-team field competing at Hawks Ridge Golf Club. The sixth-seeded Hawkeyes will take on 11th-seeded USC beginning Sunday morning. For tournament updates, live scoring and a tournament bracket, go to www.collegiatematchplay.com.
THE COURSE
Hawks Ridge Golf Club winds through more than five hundred acres of pines and hardwoods, water hazards and changing elevations, preserving the integrity of the land but never compromising on the quality of play. A Bob Cupp design, Hawks Ridge was added to Golf Digest’s prestigious list of America’s Top-100 Golf Courses. Considered by Cupp to be his consummate achievement, Hawks Ridge plays to 7,146 yards from the championship tees for a par 72.
THE COMPETITION
The Hawkeyes are seeded sixth in the 16-team field for this year’s event. Eleven of the teams competing are ranked in the top-25 by golfstat.com. Listed in respective order of their seeding (and ranking), the 16 teams for the 2011 field are: UCLA (2), Alabama (3), Georgia Tech (5), Illinois (8), Texas A&M (9), IOWA (10), Texas (12), Georgia (13), Texas Tech (19), Duke (20), Southern California (23), Pacific, Baylor, Washington State, East Tennessee State and South Carolina.
2010 CALLAWAY COLLEGIATE
The Hawkeyes finished fifth in the 2010 Callaway Collegiate Match Play after an upset of sixth-seeded UNLV. The fourth-seeded Hawkeyes upset first-seeded and second-ranked Stanford and No.14 Arizona State before topping the No. 11 Rebels 3-2. Junior Barrett Kelpin led Iowa with a perfect 4-0 record as 15th-seeded New Mexico won the title.
NATIONAL RANKINGS
The Hawkeyes are currently ranked 10th, 11th and 12th by golfstat.com, Golfweek/Sagarin and the Golf World/Nike Coaches’ Poll, respectively. Additionally, the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings have three Hawkeyes ranked in the top-100 individually. Senior Vince India is ranked No. 10 while senior Brad Hopfinger is 38th and junior Chris Brant is 75th.
HEAD COACH Mark Hankins
Hankins is in his fourth year as Iowa’s head men’s golf coach after spending seven years as the head coach at Michigan State University. Under Hankins, the Hawkeyes finished the 2010 season with the highest national ranking in school history. Ranked 36th among all NCAA Division I teams, Iowa earned its best Big Ten finish (second) since 1992 and produced an NCAA Regional berth for the second-consecutive year. Additionally, the Hawkeyes picked up four tournament titles in five events last fall. Hankins is a native of Mt. Pleasant, IA, and a graduate of Iowa State.