The final round of competition wrapped up at the Thunderbird Invitational on Saturday, with the Cyclones gaining another top-10 finish to add to their season.

Iowa State ended up in seventh out of 13 teams in the field. Iowa State shot even for the final round, collecting its lowest round score of the tournament.

Bogeys cost the Cyclones

For much of the season, Iowa State has not had many rounds or tournaments in general where the bogeys outweighed the birdies by a significant margin.

The Thunderbird changed that.

Iowa State shot 66 bogeys compared to 50 birdies at the Thunderbird.

Coach Andrew Tank thought his team left multiple shots on the course and did not play with a high level of execution.

“I didn’t feel like it was one our best events,” Tank said. “We know what we need to work and that comes with having better approach shots and work on our execution.”

In the first round, Iowa State shot 23 bogeys but still managed to overcome the mistakes with only two schools shooting under-par for the first round. Iowa State sat in third place by the end of the first round.

Unfortunately for the Cyclones, the bogeys continued but the rest of the competition rebounded strong.

Tank did not feel that the two-week break from play that the Cyclones had was a factor in the bogeys piling up.

Tank said he was ”proud“ of the practice and preparation his team had leading up to the Thunderbird.

Iowa State fell five spots by the time the second round came to a close on Friday. Once again, Iowa State shot 23 bogeys. 

Sophomore Frank Lindwall believed that the Cyclones issues came from miscues on the greens. Lindwall said that the course was difficult but the Cyclones didn’t help themselves with the amount of miscues that took place in round two and three.

“I thought we were trying to get too cute,” Lindwall said.

His teammate Tripp Kinney agreed, saying the adversity the Cyclones faced at the Thunderbird was difficult to overcome.

“I think we all faced challenges this weekend, and in the past we have been able to bounce back but not this time,” Kinney said.

Lindwall rises up

Despite the large amount of bogeys, the Cyclones got a top-20 performance from Lindwall, his third of the year.

Lindwall finished tied for 18th and with second round 69, notched his second career round in the 60s.

Birdies were not a common occurrence for most of the Cyclones, unless you talk to Lindwall.

His 16 birdies was good enough for second best at the tournament by any individual.

“I hit tons of birdies so that will always lead to a good result,” Lindwall said. “For me, it was a course that required patience and going forward; I still need to work on tidying things up around the greens.”

Lindwall’s coach saw his game stay consistent all tournament but shares the same sentiment with Lindwall in his needed improvement on the greens and in his putting.

Kinney finished tied for 18th with Lindwall and said it was cool to see his teammate play at a high level down the stretch of the season.

Kinney said Lindwall played with confidence and calmness throughout.

“[Lindwall’s] game is solid right now,” Kinney said. “He is playing so free right now, and I definitely saw it come through this tournament.”

Beating another highly ranked opponent

The Thunderbird played host to five teams ranked in the top 25 in the country, but the Cyclones were able to take care of not just a top 25 team but a Big 12 rival.

Iowa State finished one spot above No. 25 Baylor, with the Bears shooting +6 in the final round.

With the win over Baylor, Iowa State has now defeated No. 9 Duke, No. 25 Baylor and No. 26 North Carolina State in tournament play this season.

Iowa State will head to Big 12 Championships on 4/26-28 in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, where the field will be littered with plenty of top 25 teams waiting.