Iowa Prepares for Inverness Intercollegiate

THIS WEEK
The University of Iowa men’s golf team tees off at the Inverness Intercollegiate on Monday in Toledo, Ohio. Round One begins Monday at 7:45 a.m. (CT).

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE
The 54-hole tournament opens with two rounds on Monday with the final 18 holes to be played on Tuesday. On Monday, one “feature” hole will be live streamed throughout the day starting at 9 a.m. (CT). On Tuesday, ESPN+ will carry live coverage of all the third round action.

FOLLOW THE ACTION
You can follow this week’s action by visiting golfstat.com for live scoring. Links for scoring, the live stream and ESPN+ can be found on the men’s golf schedule page at hawkeyesports.com.

THE LINEUP
The Hawkeye lineup is headed by seniors Mac McClear, Ronan Kleu, and Garrett Tighe. Sophomore Ian Meyer and fifth-year Gonzalo Leal-Montero round out the Iowa starting five.

THE FIELD
Toledo hosts a field of 16 schools including 12 Golfstat top 50 teams. Iowa will compete against the likes of No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 8 Texas Tech, No. 10 Washington, No. 11 Georgia Tech, No. 16 Notre Dame, No. 28 Purdue, No. 31 East Tennessee State, No. 32 Ohio State, No. 34 Charlotte, No 38 Louisville, No. 40 SMU, USC, South Alabama, and Virginia.

12 teams competing at the Inverness Intercollegiate qualified for NCAA Regionals last spring, including five that advanced to the NCAA Championships (East Tennessee State, Georgia Tech, Ohio State, Oklahoma and Texas Tech).

THE COURSE
Inverness Golf Club is home of the Toledo Rockets and is one of the most storied clubs in the United States. Inverness is the only golf course to have hosted the U.S. Open, U.S. Amateur, U.S. Senior Open and U.S. Junior Amateur championships. The course has hosted four U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships and two NCAA Men’s Championships since it opened in 1903. Future professionals who played collegiate golf at Inverness include Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka and Billy Horschel to name a few.

HISTORY AT INVERNESS
The Hawkeyes last competed at Inverness Golf Club during the 2009 NCAA Championships, where they placed 17th with a team score of 887 strokes through three rounds (301-296-290).

ON THE LINKS
Iowa opened the season with a 12th place finish at the Fighting Irish Classic at Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Indiana.

• The Hawkeyes return seven golfers from last year’s team, including a class of four seniors; however, Iowa was without one of its low scorers from last season to open the year.
• McClear posted Iowa’s top finish, tying for 21st place at one-under par (209) through three rounds; his second round 67 (-3) marks the low Iowa round through one tournament.
• Leal-Montero was next for Iowa at 216 (+6); the Hawkeye veteran matched McClear for a team-high nine birdies on the week

SENIOR LEADERS
Four seniors provide leadership to the Hawkeye lineup this season. Leal Montero returns for a fifth year after competing as Iowa’s lone senior last season. He is joined by a former Big Ten Champion in McClear, as well as Iowa’s second-low scorer last season in Kleu. Tighe was also a frequent starter for Iowa.

LOOKING AHEAD
Iowa travels to Lafayette, Indiana, for the Purdue Fall Invitational on Oct. 10-11 at Kampen Golf Course. The Hawkeyes host the Iowa Fall Classic the following week, Oct. 16-17, at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course in Riverside, Iowa.