April 26, 2011
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THIS WEEK — The University of Iowa men’s golf team will travel to West Lafayette, Ind., for the 2011 Big Ten Men’s Golf Championships April 29-May 1. Purdue will host the conference tournament on the Kampen course at its own Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex. Fans can find the tournament central page at purduesports.com.
THE COURSE — The Kampen Course, a Pete Dye design, is an 18-hole, links-style, par-72 championship golf course, featuring 7,465 yards of large bent-grass greens, fairways and tees. Rated as one of the top collegiate courses in the nation, Kampen has played host to a number of prestigious collegiate and public tournaments, such as the 2000 Men’s Big Ten Championship, the 2003 Women’s NCAA Championship, the 2004 Indiana Open, the 2005 Women’s Western Amateur, and the 2008 Men’s NCAA Championship.
NATIONAL RANKINGS — The Big Ten is making noise in national rankings with nine of the league’s 11 teams ranked inside Golfstat’s top 100. The Hawkeyes, ranked ninth, are the most highly noted team in the Big Ten, while No. 11 Illinois, No. 26 Ohio State and No. 37 Indiana all fall in the top 50. Individually, Iowa senior Vince India is ranked seventh in the nation, while Illinois junior Luke Guthrie is ranked 20th.
2010 BIG TENS — Iowa will look to improve on its second place finish at last year’s Big Ten Championship. The Hawkeyes, who were in third place and 16-strokes back heading into the final round, turned in an impressive (-2) 282 final round to sneak within three strokes of champion Illinois (1157, +21). Barrett Kelpin, then a sophomore, led the Hawkeyes with a third place finish, turning in a four-round total of even-par 284.
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 have picked up five tournament titles so far this season. Hankins is a native of Mt. Pleasant, IA, and a graduate of Iowa State.
NEXT TIME OUT — NCAA Regional selections will take place Monday, May 2 after all conference championships have been completed. Conference champions receive an automatic berth into regionals, with the remaining field of teams being selected nationally at-large. Regional competitions will be contested at six different sites, May 19-21.