The National Invitational Tournament will welcome the Iowa State men’s golf team in Tucson, Arizona.

The tournament will begin on March 18 and go for two days.

Iowa State finished fifth out of 16 teams in last year’s National Invitational Tournament. UNLV won the event last year.

The Cyclones bring with them some players who have experience from last year’s National Invitational.

Junior Tripp Kinney placed 11th with a 207 (66-70-71) at the event, along with Lachlan Barker who finished in a tie for 27th place with a 212 (72-69-71) last year.

The Cyclones will return to Arizona after travelling to South Carolina for the Colleton River Collegiate, where the Cyclones finished in second place.

The environments of the courses in Arizona only differ from South Carolina’s in the grass and the space of the courses according to the team.

Kinney is not anticipating the change of scenery will affect the Cyclones’ play on the course.

“Golf is golf for the most part so hopefully we don’t see any issues arise from that and I don’t think we will,” Kinney said.

Like Kinney, Barker sees the return to Arizona as an opportunity based on the amount of birdies the course can offer. 

Barker would be no stranger to getting birdies at the National Invitational, as he currently leads the team with 82 birdies.

“The course tends to give up some birdies,” Barker said.

While the Cyclones have not worried about rankings and the level of competition they face off against in their tournaments, it is worth noting the Cyclones will be up against some highly-ranked schools compared to the last tournament at the Colleton River Collegiate.

According to the latest Golfstat collegiate golf rankings, Iowa State will be up against four schools ranked as a top-50 golf program. 

Some of those schools include No. 4 Arizona State and No. 5 Oklahoma.

Once again, no matter the circumstances surrounding a tournament, Barker and his teammates’ attitudes is one of confidence, not stressfulness.

“Everyone is really calm right now, in rhythm, in tournament flow and everything is cruising,” Barker said. “Everyone is playing well right now and I think we can definitely compete for the title.”