The ISU men’s golf team has given underclassmen the chance to lead and grow this season. This past Monday and Tuesday, those players received one last chance to compete.

Along with Baylor, the Cyclones were the only team not to have a senior on their team at the Big 12 Championships in Hutchinson, Kan.

Led by junior Greg Stephanson and freshman Corey Schultz, Iowa State completed their 2001-2002 campaign with an 11th-place finish at the Prairie Dunes Golf Course.

The Cyclones were in fifth after the first round and eighth following 36 holes of play.

“The last three tournaments we kept improving as a team,” ISU head coach Jay Horton said. “We started off in fifth place out at Akron and at the Big 12. We just couldn’t piece it together at the end.

“We had a great chance going into the last round at the Big 12, with a good-scoring round, of finishing as high as fourth.”

Although the Cyclones hardly varied their team scores for each round, Prairie Dunes played to fairly low-scoring conditions.

“It was an extremely challenging golf course. You have to hit it really straight,” freshman Corey Schultz said.

“You have to keep it in play, otherwise scoring is really tough.”

Schultz finished second on the team behind junior Greg Stephanson with a 224 total. The freshman shot one over par (71) in his first round at the annual conference championship course. He repeated the score in the final round effort.

“There’s not too many freshmen who have shot two rounds of 71 at the Big 12 tournaments,” Horton said.

“Prairie Dunes is a demanding golf course and for someone to shoot 71 in their first look at [it] gave us a great lift.”

Schultz’s performance was impressive to others on the team as well.

“That just shows that he’s really not afraid of the big-time situations,” Stephanson said.

Schultz attributed his low scores to his ability to stay on the fairway and away from the long prairie grass that is a trademark of the course.

“The first and third rounds, I did stay out of the grass,” he said. “I hit irons [off the tee] because you had to keep [the ball] in play.”

Other results by Cyclone players included an 18th-place tie by Stephanson, a top-50 placing for sophomore Jeremy Lyons and junior Kevin Oswald, and a top-60 finish from sophomore Clark Smith.

Everyone on the roster currently is expected to return next season, and Horton believes that good performances await his team based on this year’s opportunities.

“All these guys gained a lot of experience over the year,” he said. “I think it’s going to be very competitive to see who’ll be playing next year.”

Schultz also looks forward to competing with a familiar group of faces next season.

“That’s going to be awesome for us,” he said. “We have a really great time together as a team and to not lose anybody next year is a big thing for our team.”

Stephanson said this situation will give teammates a chance to improve on the flashes of consistency that were displayed this season.

“I see our team being as solid as ever next year,” he said. “I see two or three guys that have the capability of being number one or two, not just on the team but in the Big 12.”

Stephanson said while had while he had some consistent play this season, he was still disappointed with how he played over the course of the year.

He said next year will give him opportunities to take his game up to a higher level.

“My goal is to shoot, at worst, even par at every tournament,” he said. “I know that we’ve got two other guys that are just like that.”

With such expectations from coach and players, Schultz is hoping his team will always be prepared to shoot low each round.

“I have all the confidence in the world with everybody on the team,” he said. “Every day you go out on the course and you see how good everybody is. We all are very capable of playing well.”