In every week of the season, the Cyclones found more and more positives to look at as they got closer to a victory. That victory finally came at the conclusion of their fall season.

The ISU men’s golf team had found themselves in contention to win nearly every tournament this fall, including having a first-place lead after the first day of the Rees Jones Collegiate Invitational.

“We have been in position the last couple tournaments so it’s nice to finally be able to get it,” said head coach Andrew Tank.

The Cyclones winning of the tournament highlighted the golfers going through the toughest weather conditions they faced in tournament play this season. All the previous tournaments featured mostly clear conditions.

Poor weather pushed back play and shortened the entire tournament to 36 holes.

“On Saturday it was wet because it rained a lot overnight,” Tank said. “It was pretty cold and a little bit windy.”

The weather was reflected in a lot of the scores after that first day, although higher scores still appeared on the second day Sunday. The Cyclones were the only team to go under par collectively in the second round.

“I think it affected everybody,” Tank said. “With the cold and the wet, the scores weren’t very low. The scores may have been a little higher the second day because they set the course up tougher. We took advantage of the conditions [on the second day] and that made a difference.”

The weather did not seem to affect freshman Sam Daley, who has played well during the entire fall season and was the highest finisher for the Cyclones.

“I was pretty solid with my driver off the tee and I was hitting a lot of fairways,” Daley said. “My putting from short distance was pretty good, which hasn’t been the case in the last few tournaments. [I was] being patient, and the conditions weren’t too good, but I hung in there and I was very happy.”

Another obstacle that the Cyclones had to overcome was slightly higher scores from their hottest two golfers of the season after the first day.

“Nate [McCoy] and Scott [Fernandez] didn’t play that great,” Tank said. “I was pleased that Sam, Duncan [Croudis] and Blake [Waller] sort of stepped up and put in some solid rounds that kept us in contention. [On Sunday] both Nate and Scott came through and put up some good rounds when we needed it, and it pushed us over the top.”

Now that the fall season is complete, the golf team will be working on an off season plan in the upcoming weeks to keep their players fresh when they return in three months.

“I’m going to work on my technique and getting it consistent so when I’m back in the spring, I’m going to start right where I left off,” Daley said. “[Then] I can work on my short game since that’s an important aspect of the game.”