The fall season came to a close for the men’s golf team this Sunday as they left Greensboro N.C. Competing in the Bridgestone Collegiate, the Cyclones placed third out of 13 teams.

Carding a total of 866 (287-287-294), Iowa State placed just one shot behind second place Chattanooga (865). This leaves the team with its second top-five finish of the season.

Mississippi State took first place with a score of 861.

“It was a good way for us to finish the fall season,” said coach Andrew Tank. “We ended on a positive note.”

Sophomore Scott Fernandez again led the team tying for third overall as an individual. Returning after missing two tournaments while competing in the World Amateur, Fernandez shot a total of 212 (71-71-70) four strokes behind second place Axel Boasson.

Bridgestone’s individual medalist Chris Robb of Chattanooga, placed five strokes ahead of Fernandez with a score of 207.

Dormant grass gave golfers a challenge during Bridgestone, causing golf balls to roll longer then normal.

“We’re not used to that kind of grass, some of the shots can get pretty tricky,” Fernandez said.

Using the coaching staff’s technical advice on approaching shots, the team was able to combat the unique challenge.

“I think they gave us good instruction on how we should extract the ball on that kind of grass,” Fernandez said.

Placing among the top three in all his college tournaments this season, Fernandez has had an outstanding year. Beginning the season with the Northern Intercollegiate and the VCU Shootout, Fernandez finished as runner up in both carding 219 and 214 respectively over three rounds.

Competing in the World Amateur, Fernandez tied for 13th representing his home country of Spain.

Out of a 16 colligate event career, Fernandez now has nine top 10 finishes.

“I’m happy that things went well for me [this season],” Fernandez said.

Redshirt sophomore Blake Waller left Bridgestone with Iowa State’s second lowest score. Finishing ninth as an individual, Waller shot a career-low score of 217 (74-70-73). This makes it Waller’s first top-10 finish of his colligate career.

“It was just a lot of belief that I could do it,” Waller said. “It felt really good to finish strong at the end of the tournament, I’ve been struggling the last season and a half… It makes it a lot easier to work hard.”

Tank attributes the top-three finish at Bridgestone to the Cyclones’ ability to play well as a whole, not just individual stars carrying the team.

“[I] was pleased with the effort,” Tank said. “[It] felt like we got contributions from all players, which is something we’ve been lacking in our first four events this fall.”

Players agreed with Tank, that this was what has been missing during the previous tournaments this season.

“It was a total team effort,” Waller said. ”That’s why we did so well.”

Other ISU golfers at Bridgestone included junior Duncan Croudis and sophomore Sam Daley who both tied for 35th (224), and Collin Foster who tied for 43rd (227).

ISU men’s golf will return to compete on the green next spring season on Feb. 11th at UTSA Oak Hills Invitational in San Antonio.