It was an awkward start to the ISU men’s golf season when Chris Baker was pulled from the lineup an hour before the GADO North Texas Classic after suffering a neck strain while eating breakfast.

Baker was eating at the table when he turned quickly to watch something on the TV.

After the injury, he couldn’t turn his head to the left and treatment didn’t work in time for him to play.

“I was hitting the ball great coming into the meet,” Baker said. “It was really hard for me to watch and not be able to play. It was just a freak accident. The good news is that I’m fine now, and will be ready to play for next week’s tournament.”

Losing Baker was a huge loss going into the meet. He tallied three top 10 finishes in the spring season, and is a leader on the team.

“It was hard for us to have to shake up the lineup an hour before the meet. Guys didn’t play as well as they wanted, but we’ll be OK. This is nothing that will kill us,” said coach Jay Horton.

As a team, Iowa State salvaged a seventh-place finish in the 10-team tournament. The placing in the event isn’t as important as the team knocking off the rust that comes along with not playing competitively for more than three months.

“We expected some rust, but we got a lot of playing in,” Horton said. “We played 36 practice holes and now have the first tournament under our belt. We’re ready to go.”

The bright spot came from freshman Cameron White who shot 76-72-74 for a three-round total of 222. This earned White his second top-10 finish as a Cyclone by placing fifth in a very deep field.

“Playing golf at this high of a level has quite a learning curve to it, but I believe I can play with anyone,” White said. “I’m quite pleased to finish in the top 10.”

The Cyclones look forward to next weekend’s All-American Invitational, in Houston, Texas. Again, the field will be extremely competitive.

“It will be great to have Chris back out there. He makes a huge difference on our team, and when he’s not out there with us, we’re not the same team that was winning tournaments this spring,” White said. “We’re all excited for Texas, and think we can have a really strong showing.”