After 54 holes, the ISU men’s golf team remains in third place at the Big 12 Championship, but a torrid pace set by Texas and Texas Tech will make it difficult for the Cyclones to climb any higher.

With a 54-hole team total of 883, No. 47 Iowa State is at 19 over-par, 17 shots behind No. 39 Texas Tech and 16 shots behind No. 18 Texas.

The Cyclones entered the day tied with No. 52 TCU at 16-over par, but they posted the second-best round of the day to separate themselves from the Horned Frogs.

Iowa State topped 36-hole leader Texas by four shots in the third round Saturday, but could not gain any ground on Texas Tech, who shot the low-round of the day, a one-over-par 289.

Iowa State will need a lot to go its way to climb into contention for a team title, but junior Sam Daley is in the mix for individual honors.

Daley entered the day in a tie for seventh place out of 45 golfers in the individual race but climbed to third at day’s end. With a three-under-par round of 69, Daley tied for the second-lowest round of the tournament and sits four shots behind leader Julien Brun of TCU.

Fellow Aussie Ruben Sondjaja shot the second-best team round of the day with a two-under-par total of 70. After struggling with rounds of 76 and 77 on Friday, Sondjaja turned things around on Saturday. The freshman climbed 13 spots on the leaderboard from a tie for 32nd to a tie for 19th place.

Junior Scott Fernandez posted a 73 in the second round, but was three-under-par on his round before double bogies on holes 9 and 13 derailed his round. With a 224 total, Fernandez is tied for 23rd place.

Like Daley, freshman Nick Voke entered the day tied for seventh place, but his round went in the opposite direction of Daley’s. Voke posted a seven-over par round of 79 and is tied for 26th place.

Rounding out Iowa State’s starting lineup was redshirt sophomore Collin Foster. Foster posted a contributing score of 73 in the first round, but struggled in rounds two and three with scores of 79 and 80. With a 232 total, he is tied for 36th place.

If Iowa State holds on for third place, it would be the program’s best finish since finishing in third at the 1997 Big 12 Championship.

The Cyclones will be paired with Texas and Texas Tech once again in the final round beginning at 9:40 a.m. on Sunday. Daley will tee off at 10:20 and is in the same group as Beau Hossler, who is in second place and one shot ahead of Daley.