The Iowa State men’s golf team has already competed in three tournaments in the spring portion of their season and with that has come plenty of storylines.

Sam Vincent’s top-15 finishes

From the first hole until the very last, the Cyclones preach to one another that a hot start can lead to great success on the course.

Sam Vincent has taken that message to heart.

Vincent, one of two juniors on the roster for the Cyclones, has started his spring season with two top-15 finishes at the Arizona Intercollegiate and the Prestige at the PGA West.

In the Arizona Intercollegiate, Vincent tied for 13th overall in the event, shooting a 207 for the three rounds of play (73-68-66). 

While the message has been to play strong from the word ‘go’ at tournaments, Vincent heated up toward the tail-end of the Intercollegiate.

Besides shooting 8 under par in his final 36 holes, his overall score of 207 for the tournament became his new 54-hole career best.

Vincent continued his impressive play as the Cyclones continued their trip out West at the Prestige at the PGA West. Once again, Vincent found himself high on the overall leaderboard, tying for 11th place.

By shooting a 214 for the tournament (77-72-65), Vincent once again added another new career achievement.

Vincent’s final round score of 65 became his career-low round. 

His coach of three years, Andrew Tank, was proud of Vincent’s play and his ability to ‘hang in there’ throughout the up’s and down’s of the Prestige at the PGA West.

“His final round at the Prestige was the best round I have seen him play in his career,” Tank said. 

Vincent’s coach wasn’t the only one to offer praise to Vincent’s play to begin the spring season.

Tripp Kinney, the other junior on the roster for the Cyclones, said it is “awesome” to see Vincent play at the high level he has been at as of late. Kinney said Vincent’s hard work during the offseason has been the reason he has seen success at both tournaments so far.

Vincent said he believes his success has come from his offseason work as well. His main focus during the offseason was to clean up simple mistakes and allow his mind to focus on his own play.

“Overall I had a good week on the greens,” Vincent said. “The first couple days driving off the tee on the fairway was an issue for me but I relaxed and got it under control.”

Top-10 finishes start off spring

For Iowa State, the beginning of the spring has been defined in the past with low finishes at the first two or three tournaments.

In the 2017-18 season, the Cyclones struggled at the Arizona Intercollegiate and the Prestige at the PGA West.

The Arizona Intercollegiate saw the Cyclones finish 14th out 16 teams last season.

Iowa State saw another low finish at the Prestige last year, placing 10th out 16 teams in the field. 

However, the Cyclones have flipped the script in those tournaments to begin their 2018-19 spring season.

At the Intercollegiate this season, Iowa State finished fourth out 16 teams in the field, with four of the five competing Cyclones placing in the top-50 in the individual rankings.

Just like the Intercollegiate, the Prestige saw improvement on the leaderboard for the Cyclones.

Iowa State finished sixth out of 16 teams in the field this year. The Cyclones overcame adversity, jumping up nine spots on the final day of the tournament to add another high finish to begin the spring season of play.

Facing highly ranked competition

When it comes to the level of competition Iowa State has faced, the numbers don’t lie.

In the three tournaments Iowa State played during the fall season, the Cyclones faced off against nine teams ranked in both Golfstat’s and Golfweek’s top-50 college golf teams in the country.

In the three tournaments the Cyclones have already completed for the spring season, the number is already at 15. 

Tank said he wants his players to come into every tournament caring about how they play and not focus on the ranking placed next to a team.

“Maybe the number next to certain team isn’t as high as others but what does that mean?” Tank said. “It probably doesn’t mean much in the end because we need to go out and take care of our own business.”

Tank said that while Iowa State should focus on themselves, he acknowledged there is a benefit to playing so many ranked opponents already as compared to the fall because it allows the team to see where they stack up against the best in the nation.

The mindset remains the same for his players, including Kinney and Lachlan Barker.

Kinney said he thinks the Cyclones should walk into every event and believe they can compete with any team in the country. 

Some of the highly-ranked opponents the Cyclones have faced so far in the three tournaments include No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 14 Pepperdine, No. 16 LSU and No. 25 Arkansas. 

“A win’s a win no matter who we face whether they are the best team in the country or outside the top-100,” Kinney said.

Barker, like Kinney, wants himself and his teammates to focus on their own play but enjoys the fact that the Cyclones have seen where they stack up to start the spring season.

“Playing ranked teams like we have lets us see where we stack up against teams that we hopefully will be seeing in the National Championship,” Barker said.