Iowa Claims Team Title at ANF Fall Classic

RIVERSIDE, Iowa – With five players finishing under par during Wednesday’s final round, the University of Iowa men’s golf team shot up the leaderboard, firing a 15-under par 345, to claim the team title at the ANF Fall Classic at Blue Top Ridge Golf Course.

The Hawkeyes entered the final round 14 shots back of South Dakota before battling to win the event for the first time since 2022.  Iowa finished with a three-round total of 1,063 strokes (359-359-345) – four shots ahead of second-place Western Kentucky.  (It was a six-play, five-count format).

“I told the team that we have a chance to do something today that no Iowa team that I have been apart of is come from behind 14 strokes,” said Iowa head coach Tyler Stith. “It’s the largest come-from-behind win that I have been apart of.  It was our thing today was to make history.

“I told them we needed all six of them to be in it from the first hole, all the way through we needed clean scorecards.  We couldn’t be making bogeys and doubles if we were going to make up that kind of ground.  We had one double and a handful of bogeys and a lot of birdies. 

“The guys were ready and answered the bell from the first hole and played hard all the way through the end.”

Two players – third-year Grant Gudgel and first-year Andrew Johannsen – carded four-under par 68s to pace the team during the final round.  Gudgel had five birdies and 12 pars en route to his four-under performance to tie for 10 place with a 213 (73-72-68).

It was Gudgel’s fourth career top 10 finish.

Johannsen carded a final round 68 to tie for the team’s low round of the day, carding six birdies.  He finished the week with a seven-under par 209 (68-73-68) to tie for fourth, notching a top 10 finish in his first collegiate event.

Fourth-year Maxwell Tjoa was in the running for the medalist down the stretch before finishing the tournament in a tie for fourth place (with Johannsen) at seven-under par 209.  He had four birdies (and only one bogey) during his three-under par 69. The performance was Tjoa’s sixth career top 10 finish.

Third-year Jack McCarty had a bogey-free round of 69 on Wednesday.  He finished the tournament with a 54-hole total of 220 (76-75-69), tying for 30th place.

Second-year Bennett Warren was also in the red, firing a one-under par 71 during his final round.  Warren had the shot of the day when he had an albatross on the par four, 575-yard fourth hole.  The Kansas native finished the tournament tied for 26th with a 219 (76-72-71).

Third-year Ryan Shellberg notched a top 20 showing, tying for 20th place with a one-over par 217 (71-73-73).  It was his third career top 20 finish.

North Dakota State’s Carter White claimed the medalist honor, finishing with a nine-under par 207 one shot ahead of Western Kentucky’s Gage Doyle and Bradley’s Carter Stevenson.

The Hawkeyes will return to action Sunday, beginning play at the Inverness Collegiate in Toledo, Ohio.