May 4, 2015
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IOWA CITY, Iowa — The University of Iowa men’s golf team has been selected to the NCAA Yale Regional, earning its seventh-consecutive NCAA appearance, the NCAA golf committee announced Monday morning. The NCAA Yale Regional, hosted by Yale University, will be held at The Course at Yale in New Haven, Connecticut on May 14-16.
Teams were selected to one of six regional sites, with 13 or 14 teams competing at each location. The Hawkeyes are the No. 7 seed in the Yale Regional.
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The top five teams, along with the top individual not on a qualifying team from each region, will advance to the NCAA Finals to be held at The Concession Golf Club in Bradenton, Florida, on May 29-June 3.
“We are very excited to be heading to Yale,” said Tyler Stith, who is in his first year as Iowa’s head coach. “Every year it is one of the best college golf courses in the country. I know our players are excited and up for the challenge.
“I believe our best golf is still in front of us, and I’ve been saying that for a couple of months now,” said Stith. “I think we saw a little bit of that last week at the Big Ten Championships; in two of the four rounds we had the lowest round of the day. The guys are really motivated and hungry right now and are really looking forward to playing in a couple more tournaments this year.”
Stith was a four-year letterman for the Hawkeyes and team captain as a senior. He previously served as Iowa’s assistant coach for three-and-a-half seasons.
The Hawkeyes have qualified for NCAA Regional competition in seven consecutive seasons. Iowa will be seeking its fourth NCAA Championship Finals berth in the past seven years and the 16th appearance in program history. The Hawkeyes join Illinois as the only Big Ten schools to appear in NCAA Regional competition in each of the last seven years.
Last year, Iowa placed ninth at the NCAA Columbia Regional. Raymond Knoll led the Hawkeyes with an even-par 216 over 54 holes, tying for 38th place. Additional Hawkeye participants included Steven Ihm (217), Carson Schaake (218), Brian Bullington (221) and Ian Vandersee (232).
Iowa last qualified for the NCAA Finals in 2012 after placing fifth in the NCAA Athens Regional. The Hawkeyes would go on to place 22nd in the NCAA Championships.
In order of their respective seeding (Golfstat.com national ranking in parentheses), the Yale Regional consists of Vanderbilt (5), LSU (7), South Florida (16), Oklahoma State (20), Arkansas (29), San Diego State (33), Iowa (41), NC State (45), Ohio State (53), Troy (57), North Texas (69) College of Charleston (88), Robert Morris (206), and Saint Peter’s (242).
Iowa is one of six Big Ten teams to advance to regional competition, joining Illinois, Michigan, Ohio State, Purdue, and Penn State in postseason play. The remaining five regional sites will be hosted by Ball State, North Carolina, San Diego, Texas Tech, and Washington.
In their most recent competition, the Hawkeyes placed second at the Big Ten Conference Championships. Schaake led the Hawkeyes by earning a share of the individual title with a four-under par 284 over the 72-hole event. Illinois captured the team title with a 72-hole score of 1,138 (-14). The Hawkeyes had the low team score in two of the four rounds at the conference championships.
“This being my senior year, I’m really excited to be able to make a championship run with the guys we have,” said Brian Bullington. “Yale’s course is one of the top golf courses in the country and with how well the team is playing right now, we are all really excited.”
