Heading into Tuesday’s final round, the ISU men’s golf team is in a position to win its first tournament of the year.

After two rounds at the VCU Shootout, the Cyclones are in second place with a score of five-under-par, a total of 567. Iowa State is two shots behind defending champion, Virginia Tech.

“Overall, I saw a lot of good things out there,” said ISU coach Andrew Tank. “I’m excited for Collin [Foster] shooting the rounds that he did. I feel good about the position we’re in going into tomorrow and I’m excited to get out there and see how it plays out.”

Foster, a redshirt sophomore, sits near the top of the leaderboard after firing rounds of 69 and 72 to sit at three-under-par heading into the final day of competition.

His play on Monday was good enough to put him in a tie for second place, where he stands four shots behind Virginia Tech’s Scott Vincent.

“I credit the work he’s done with [assistant] coach [Peter] Laws on his short game the past few weeks, that’s really been a point of emphasis,” Tank said in regards to Foster’s improvement from last week, where he finished in a tie for 48th place at the Columbia Regional Preview.

Iowa State’s other four starters all finished in the top 30 and only seven shots separated the team’s best and worst score.

Junior Sam Daley carded rounds of 71 and 72 to finish the day at one-under-par. Daley, currently in a tie for seventh place, was in first place after shooting a 32 for his first nine holes in round one, but fell off after later recording a double-bogey, which preceded an inconsistent final 27 holes to finish the day.

Junior Scott Fernandez also held a share of the lead Monday after making a birdie on his 11th hole in round two to reach four-under-par. A triple-bogey on his 14th hole, however, erased his lead and he went on to shoot a pair of even-par rounds of 72.

Freshman Ruben Sondjaja also finished at even-par after carding rounds of 70 and 74. Sondjaja shot no worse than a bogey on the day and sits in a tie for 11th place with Fernandez.

Fellow freshman Nick Voke recorded rounds of 77 and 71 to finish at four-over-par and in a tie for 30th place.

Voke’s score does not currently count towards team scoring as only the top four out of five individual scores are considered.

Freshman Jack Carter also competed as an individual, where he stands at seven-over-par and in a tie for 43rd in his first collegiate tournament.

Unlike many collegiate tournaments, the course featured a few scoreboards, so players had a sense where they stood in the tournament.

“Most of our guys were aware that we were playing well and that we had the lead at one point,” Tank said. “That’s a good thing, that’s the kind of experience that I want the guys to get, to see Iowa State on top of the leaderboard and be able to relish that opportunity.”