Hoping to end the three-year stint of 11th-place finishes at the Big 12 Championship, the ISU men’s golf team is in Tulsa, Okla., Monday for their last regular season tournament.

Iowa State’s best finish in the tournament was a third-place performance in 1997. Head coach Jay Horton is hoping to exceed that mark this week.

“We’re looking to win it,” he said. “We want to beat the teams in our district. Kansas, Kansas State, Colorado and Missouri are the teams we really want to beat. If we can beat these teams, we’d be in a good position and we’d probably be seeing some play in the month ahead.”

Horton said he hopes his team’s performance is enough to push the squad into the NCAA Central Regionals, which begin May 15.

Iowa State last competed at the ASU Indian Classic in Jonesboro, Ark., on April 14-15. The Cyclones finished fourth with a score of 887, just behind rivals Nebraska and Arkansas State.

“We played well,” Horton said. “We should have been able to win though. We made a lot of little mistakes. We’re starting to get our groove back as spring rolls along.”

Two ISU players finished in the top ten at the ASU Indian Classic. Senior Kevin Oswald finished in the top 10 for the third tournament in a row. He boasts the team’s lowest stroke average at 72.94 per round heading into the Big 12 Championship. Freshman Tyler Swanson posted Iowa State’s lowest score at a one-over-par 217, which put him in a tie for fifth place.

“Tyler Swanson played great in Arkansas,” Horton said. “His confidence keeps growing every tournament and he’s improved a lot this year. I’m expecting great things out of him in the future. He can play with anybody on any level and he’s still only a freshman.”

“I’ve learned way more this year than I really expected to,” Swanson said.

During the seven-year history of the Big 12 men’s golf championship, the tournament has always been played at the Prairie Dunes Golf and Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan. This year the tournament will shift to the Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa.

“This club is a brand new venue,” Horton said. “No one who will be on the field is going to be well acquainted with the course.”

Horton said he hopes the team can have everyone on track this week, especially with a berth in regional play on the line.

“All five guys have never had strong performances in same tournament [yet this season],” he said. “It has to be a group effort. What I want to see is all five guys to go out and play solid.”