ISU freshman golfer Chris Baker has shown a knack for excellence on the golf course, and during his first season as a Cyclone has shown no signs of letting up.

After winning the Indiana state title as a high school junior — breaking the 33-year-old record score by four strokes — Baker finished second in the state as a senior and hasn’t looked back. He has led the Cyclones in five of their nine tournaments this year, was second in three others and is arguably having one of the best freshman campaigns in Cyclone history.

ISU coach Jay Horton said he has been impressed with Baker’s strong play so early in his career, but it isn’t shocking.

“I don’t think I’d say anything he’s done so far is too surprising,” Horton said. “I had a lot of confidence in his abilities coming in, and I just think he’s comfortable being up there at number one now.”

Horton also said Baker’s freshman season compares favorably to that of other great ISU golfers.

“I think his scoring average is a little bit lower than Tyler Swanson’s was and Jeremy [Lyons’] was,” Horton said. “He’s maybe been a little more consistent than they were starting out, but they also had big jumps in their sophomore years.

“Hopefully, he can make those jumps and develop into that player.”

Baker said although he may have some of the best scores on the team, he is learning from his older teammates.

“It’s nice to be up on top of the leaderboard,” Baker said. “But it’s still nice when you have guys who are older than you, like Drew [Dalziel] and Tyler, that you can learn things from.”

With the exception of a poor third round last week in the wind and rain at the Stevinson Ranch Invitational, Baker has dominated the spring for the Cyclones, leading the first four tournaments and coming in second last week. He said he can go out and have fun and relax when he is playing that well, and enjoys that feeling.

Baker has five top-20 finishes and one top-five finish between the fall and spring portions of the season. Horton said he believes Baker has what it takes to break through and start winning tournaments.

“He plays with a lot of confidence,” Horton said. “It’s just a matter of getting comfortable putting yourself in that position to be able to win. The more times you’re there, the easier it gets.

“I’m fully confident that Chris will win many times throughout his career at Iowa State.”

Horton said he knew while recruiting Baker that he could be special and would fit well on the team with his experience.

“He’s a good competitor, and he had a wealth of experience coming in on lots of different levels,” Horton said. “He was a guy I recruited pretty hard and one I thought could step in right away.”

Baker said his relationship with the team was a big part of his decision to come play for Iowa State. He had looked at Central Florida, Ball State and Eastern Carolina before making a choice to come to Ames.

“Basically just the program and the guys here made my decision easy. Coach Horton’s great, and I’d played in some of the same tournaments with a few of the guys, so that was good,” Baker said.

“Plus, it’s the Big 12 Conference, and its fun to be a part of something like that.”

While only a freshman, Baker said his early plans after leaving Iowa State are to try to make a living playing golf.

As for now, he said he plans on enjoying his college career and preparing for his first taste of the Big 12 Championships at the end of April.