The Cyclones stood in ninth place after day one of the Arizona Intercollegiate. Heading into day two they had a lot of ground to make up. Prior to the competition kicking off Monday, Coach Andrew Tank had a few goals that he wanted to accomplish as a team.

“I want to see how we handle adversity, decision making and how they’re reacting to good shots or poor shots,” Tank said.

Tuesday presented a great opportunity for Tank’s team to do just that. They came ready to play early in the morning. To begin day two, Iowa State had a handful of holes left on its second round of the competition, as well as a full third round left to play. It would eventually make up seven total strokes as it finished seven under par for the tournament.

After their third and final round of 279 total strokes, Iowa State finished tied for fifth for the tournament. 

“The guys are going about it the right way,” Tank said. “It’s a matter of time before that starts showing up on the scorecards.”

The Cyclones’ third round score of 279 was the fifth lowest of the whole competition. Overall, Iowa State finished 28 strokes behind the lead for the tournament. Arizona finished in first place with a combined total of 21 under par.

Iowa State did leave with some individual performances of note. Senior Tripp Kinney finished tied for fifth in the tournament with an overall score of four under par.

The Cyclones did not take home any hardware, but they left with some building blocks to focus on for the rest of the season. 

Short Memory

The Cyclones were able to put the day one results behind them as they performed better on day two of the tournament. They shot seven strokes better as a team on day two as compared to the opening day.

Tripp Kinney’s Big Day Two

Tripp Kinney started out the tournament slow but he was able to get back on track. After shooting 71 and 73 on the first two rounds, he bounced back with a 67 on the final round. Kinney’s improvement helped the team on Tuesday and will be important moving forward.

The Tough Holes

Junior Ricky Costello finished his first attempt at hole nine for the tournament with a score of six over par. If Costello was able to even get three or four of those strokes back, the tournament could have looked better for Tank’s team.

Other than Costello’s hiccup, the Cyclones had 11 double bogeys and two triple bogeys during the tournament.

The Cyclones next competition will be Feb. 17-19 at the Prestige at PGA West, in La Quinta, California.