Oct. 14, 2012
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa men’s golf team recorded its second consecutive top-five finish of the fall season with a fifth place showing at the Rod Myers Invitational. Iowa carded a 290 (+2) final round score Sunday, and finished with an 873 (+9), its lowest 54-hole score of the season, to place fifth out of 11 teams in a strong field at the Duke University Golf Club.
Duke, the 15th-ranked team in the country, won the tournament for the second straight season, carding an 852 (-12). North Carolina’s Clark Palmer and Duke’s Julian Suri shared medalist honors with a 209 (-7).
The Hawkeyes have improved from one tournament to the next each time out this season. Iowa shaved four strokes off its previous low tournament score, which was an 877 (+13) at the Golfweek Conference Challenge. The Hawkeyes opened the Rod Myers Invitational with rounds of 288 (E), its lowest 18-hole score of the season, and 295 (+7). Iowa had three players shoot their lowest three-round scores of the season, and had three players improve their individual standings in the final round. Iowa had three players within the top-20 of the leaderboard, led by junior Steven Ihm’s 10th place finish, and four inside the top-35.
“We stuck to our game plan, and played patiently and one shot at a time,” said Iowa head coach Mark Hankins. “There were some tough pins out there today and we did a better job of managing our expectations to play a solid final round. We need to put three good rounds together in the future if we want to contest for tournament championships. Overall, it was a good three rounds and we got our competitive feet back under us.”
Ihm fired a one-under, 71 final round, his fifth under-par round of the season. The Peosta, Iowa, native finished with a 54-hole mark of 216 (E) to improve from 15th place entering the round to tie for 10th. After making triple-bogey on his opening hole, Ihm played his remaining round at four-under with birdies on No. 6, 9, 14 and 16, and no bogeys. He finished with 10 birdies in the tournament, and improved his season stroke average to 72.66.
Sophomore Joseph Winslow also moved up the leaderboard on the final day, improving from 26th to tie for 18th, after shooting a one-under, 71. Winslow finished with a 54-hole score of 218 (+2), his best tournament of the season. Winslow’s round was up and down through the first 11 holes with four bogeys and three birdies. He closed the round strong, playing three-under in the final five holes to get his round below par. Only two players in the field had more birdies than Winslow, who finished with 14. Winslow improved his stroke average to 73.
Sophomore Ian Vandersee tied for 20th, carding a three-round score of 219 (+3) after shooting a 76 (+4) in his final round. Vandersee made birdies on holes 5, 9 and 18 and shaved nine strokes off his previous low 54-hole score. Vandersee opened the tournament with consecutive rounds at or under par.
Sophomore Brian Bullington tied for 35th place with a three-round tally of 223 (+7), which topped his previous low tournament score by three strokes. Bullington went three-over par in his final round with a 75. He played the front nine at even par, but gave up three strokes on the back nine. Only five players in the field had more pars than Bullington, who closed with 37.
Junior Ryan Marks climbed three spots in the individual standings, firing a one-over par, 73 final round score to place 50th. Marks played his best round of the tournament Sunday, with three birdies and 12 pars.
“The golf course was in great shape and scores were pretty low. We did a nice job of continuing to focus on achieving individual goals which helped us to a solid team finish in a top field.”
The Hawkeyes return to action on Friday with the U.S. Collegiate Championships in Atlanta, Georgia. 18 holes will be played Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
2012 Rod Myers InvitationalTeam Leaderboard
1. #15 Duke, 852 (-12)2. #48 North Carolina, 864 (E)3. UNC-Charlotte, 867 (+3)4. #27 Liberty, 872 (+8)5. Iowa, 873 (+9)6. #29 Tulsa, 875 (+11)7. Baylor, 877 (+13)T8. #14 Northwestern, 885 (+21)T8. East Carolina, 885 (+21)10. Pacific, 893 (+29)11. North Carolina State (+41)
Individual Leaderboard
T1. Julian Suri (Duke), 209 (-7)T1. Clark Palmer (UNC), 209 (-7)T3. Adam Sumrall (Duke), 212 (-4)T3. Braeden Cryderman (Charlotte), 212 (-4)T10. Steven Ihm (Iowa), 216 (E)T18. Joseph Winslow (Iowa), 218 (+2)T29. Ian Vandersee (Iowa), 219 (+3)T35. Brian Bullington (Iowa), 223 (+7)50. Ryan Marks (Iowa), 229 (+13)="https://hawkeyesports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>="https://hawkeyesports.com/http:%3E%3C/ahref="http:>="https://hawkeyesports.com/http:%3E%3C/pre%3E%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3E%3Ca%20href="/roster.aspx?rp_id=993" class="imported_story_link" oldlink="/sports/m-golf/mtt/ihm_steven00.html">Steven Ihm ON BOUNCING BACK AFTER OPENING-HOLE TRIPLE-BOGEY
I had a thoughtless first hole. I'm not the caliber of player that does that, and I don't plan on doing that in the future. It was great to bounce back after opening like that. I think that's the best I've hit the ball all week in those last 17 holes.
IHM ON TEAM’S IMPROVEMENT
We’re getting better each time out, and our scors are getting better. We got a lot of solid rounds across the board this week, and that’s what you need to do to win tournaments – just look at Duke. We feel like we can be at that level, and we’re going to keep working hard until we get there.
SOPHOMORE Joseph Winslow ON HIS SECOND-STREAIGHT TOP-20 FINISH
There were a lot of positives to take away from this week. I made a lot of solid putts and hit the ball pretty well, and I also grinded away when things got tough. Now, it’s one to next one, and hopefully I’ll be able to use this result to keep getting better.
WINSLOW ON WHAT THE TEAM WILL TAKE AWAY FROM INVITE MOVING FORWARD
Each of us has a few things we want to work on. We’ll get back to work and will take care of that, and will get good preparation heading into the U.S. Collegiate Championship. I think most of us have played that course and a few guys played that tournament last year. We’ll be looking to get five good scores top-to-bottom.