Traveling to Texas for a few days doesn’t seem to bother anyone on the men’s golf team. Coach Jay Horton and five players took off Saturday to play in the Henry Griffiths Invite in Waco, Texas.

“It will be fun going down there and playing in the warm weather while everyone else will be back here at school,” said sophomore Tyler Swanson. “It is like a reward for your hard work all summer and fall.”

After two meets this season, the team has already experienced some ups and downs. They won their first tournament of the year in Lincoln, Neb., by six shots, but then finished sixth in last week’s competition, 26 strokes behind tournament host Kansas.

“We were disappointed as a team after last week’s tournament,” Horton said. “We shot three strokes lower last year than this year. The only difference is then we were happy about it, and this year we are pretty disappointed.”

Swanson was the bright spot. After making the cut in his first PGA Tour event, the John Deere Classic, earlier this month, Swanson finished in a tie for second place at 3-under-par with rounds of 71-72-70. Because of that finish, he was allowed to practice Thursday while other Cyclones competed for roster spots.

“I definitely like not having to worry about qualifying,” he said. “I get to relax a little bit today.”

Even though Horton had some of his players compete for the last four spots, the lineup will remain unchanged from last week with Jeremy Lyons, Clark Smith, Curtis Foster and Drew Dalziel making the trip.

Horton is allowed to take six players to competitions, with one player competing as an individual. He said he would normally bring an alternate, but since the team is flying to Texas, he will bring just five golfers. The lowest four scores count toward the team total.

This is the first of two trips to Texas, and the competition looks to be strong with Baylor, Texas Tech, Louisiana State, Southern Methodist and Wichita State in the field.

“This is the best field we will have faced so far,” Horton said. “The depth of these teams from top to bottom is a competitive step up for us. Our last couple of events the depth of the teams hasn’t been there.

“We just need to focus on what we do and expect to go down there and play well. If we play well and someone plays better and beats us, then I can handle that. I don’t want to see us beat ourselves.”

Swanson said he is anxious to compete against stronger competition. “When you get out of the Midwest, you are testing yourself against some of the best teams in the nation,” he said. “You get to see a different caliber of players. They get to play year-round while we are hitting in a dome all winter.”

After a practice round Sunday, tournament play will consist of 36 holes Monday followed by a final 18 on Tuesday.