The ISU men’s golf team continues to knock on the door of success, and they hope, sooner or later, the door will open.

The Cyclones were in contention Tuesday for a team title for the second consecutive meet but finished third at the Stevinson Ranch Invitational in Turlock, Calif., behind Kansas and Kansas State.

“We got better [in this final round],” head coach Jay Horton said. “We had a real good shot to win with about three holes to go, [but] holes 16, 17 and 18 are as hard a stretch of holes as you’re going to find.

“We competed hard, and we’re going to learn and grow from this.”

The Cyclones played those three holes a combined 9-over-par, their chances of winning going down as their scores went up.

Even though the team fell short, Cyclone star sophomore Tyler Swanson shot a final round 1-under-par 71 to claim top individual honors by four strokes.

“Tyler played terrific,” Horton said. “One of his goals was to win, [and he did that]. The conditions were really hard; there were only a handful of scores under par. He’s really excited about it.”

Swanson opened play with rounds of 68-67—135 (-9) to set a new meet scoring record after 36 holes.

His second round score of 67 was also one stroke off the ISU single round record of 66 — a record Swanson shares with six other golfers.

Senior Jeremy Lyons shot rounds of 68-73-74, to record his second consecutive top 10 finish.

“We held our own,” Horton said of his team’s efforts. “We still made mistakes, but we had a shot to win. We had that, but the other teams played a little better [toward the end].”

A change in temperature and wind toughened the course conditions, making the final round difficult for everyone.

“[Monday] it was warm, and today the temperature dropped 10 or 15 degrees and the wind came up,” Horton said.

Just how much more difficult was the final round?

During the first two rounds, Iowa State was a combined 7 over par; however, in the final round alone they were 18 over par as a group.

Even with scores higher due to the conditions, Horton said he was happy with his team’s play throughout the lineup.

“Everybody played solid; we got good contributions from all five spots,” Horton said.

Paul Huddle was at even par after day one before shooting 80 during the final round to fall into a tie for 37th. Drew Dalziel recorded rounds of 73-74-79 to tie for 46th, and Curtis Foster rebounded from a roller coaster opening day [85-75] to shoot 74 in the final round and finish tied for 65th.