It’s usually the case that one good weekend can lighten the blow of three bad weekends prior, and that’s exactly what the Cyclones were hoping they could accomplish before the fall season concluded. 

Going into Big 12 Match Play, Iowa State had yet to put together even three solid rounds of golf as a team to put them into contention to win a competition. This weekend, they played five, and it was a similar story line. Aside from a couple of stellar rounds here and there, it was another frustrating weekend for the Cyclones.

When someone steps up, someone else struggles

This has plagued the Cyclones so far this season, although it’s mostly been Tripp Kinney and Lachlan Barker stepping up for the team. With those two being the golfers to depend on, at least so far, senior Sam Vincent and junior Frank Lindwall had to step up. With five rounds to play this weekend, you figure the chances of them having at least one good game were inevitable.

That was in fact the case, as Lindwall actually had the best weekend on the team. He won three times and tied three times, going undefeated. Vincent won twice, tied twice, and was only defeated by Texas Tech. With those two having the best weekends, the Cyclones can certainly see that as a positive, as they have now seen each of their five golfers play very well at one point, whether it’s Kinney placing third at the first tournament of the year, or Barker playing very well in the second and third tournaments.

But similar to their inability to perform well for all three rounds of the weekend, all five (six in the case of this weekend adding Bryce Hammer) have yet to each play well in at least one of the rounds. Kinney won only one round this weekend, defeating his opponent from Texas Tech on Friday. Ricky Costello also only won a single game, and that was the strong team showing against TCU on Saturday morning. 

It’s obvious that the Cyclones need to figure things out before January comes around, and all those California and Arizona golfers have been able to put in a lot more work than snowy Iowans, but they could start by getting on the same page as a team, and figuring out a way to put together a solid team round, then a solid team weekend, and that eventually turns into a solid team spring season.

Sam Vincent gets back on track

As mentioned before, Vincent had a good weekend to serve as a bounce back for his forgetful first three invitationals of the fall season. If he had to pick a weekend to perform well, this was it, as he can know what it feels like to golf well, and do it consistently, and he’ll try to use that feeling three months from now in Arizona.

Vincent performed so well, that on Saturday, his match against Oklahoma lasted only four holes. He picked up wins against Oklahoma and Texas, ties against TCU, and was defeated by Texas Tech and West Virginia. While 2-1-2 is not necessarily a weekend score to strive for, Vincent will certainly take those numbers. Besides his team-leading rounds at Windon Memorial, he’s been in the bottom third of the team standings for the other two. This isn’t something to expect from the senior, and it’s surely not something he expects of himself.

The fall season was actually the lighter part of the team’s year-long schedule. They have at least four more months of golf to be played, and by February they could forget all about what happened in 2019. With more of the same as far as familiarity goes, they can use what they’ve learned not only this year, but last year at these same courses against many of the same competitors, in order to turn their cumulative season around and make it successful.