While the Iowa State men’s golf team goes into the offseason with “a bitter taste in their mouths” after a disappointing performance at the Big 12 match play tournament, the Cyclones had some early season success that led to national recognition. Iowa State is currently ranked no. 43 nationally by Golfstat and no. 47 by Golfweek as they take a two-month break from play.

Multiple top-six finishes to begin the year

Iowa State kicked off its 2018-19 campaign with a trip to Madison, Wisconsin, for the Badger Invitational. Iowa State finished tied for third place, overcoming a sloppy first round of play, filled with 26 bogeys. Sophomore Lachlan Barker gave the Cyclones a 206 score at the Badger Invitational which was good enough for Barker to be named the runner-up.

Two weeks later, the Cyclones once again stayed in the midwest for the Windon Memorial, hosted by Northwestern. The team collected another top-three finish in large part because of a career-best performance from junior Tripp Kinney.

“It was so great to see him perform like he did, because we need him,” said coach Andrew Tank. “He shot a lot of birdies and continued to play like he did after the Badger Invitational.”

Kinney tied his career-low by shooting a 207 at the Windon Memorial.

Notre Dame hosted Iowa State at the Fighting Irish Classic, a competition Iowa State had not been to since the 2004-05 season. While Iowa State did fall from previous tournament finishes to tie for sixth place, Barker led the way once again, firing a first-round 65, the lowest round score of his career. By the end of the Fighting Irish Classic, Barker shot a career low 203 and finished in seventh place.

Lachlan Barker off to big second year for the Cyclones

“He is a level head on our team,” Tank said. “I know every day that he is never too high or too low which is great to have someone that is consistent in a sport that can change quickly from hole to hole.”

Only three tournaments in and Barker has already made an impact on the team’s early success. Barker had two-top 10 performances in the Cyclones’ first three tournaments and has a team low 70.56 stroke average, making him Golfweek’s 82nd best collegiate golfer.

At Big 12 match play, Iowa State fell in the first matchup to Oklahoma and never recovered, losing all five matches over the weekend. Although Iowa State saw no match victories, Barker did his part, grabbing a 4-1 individual match record for the Cyclones. No other golfer for Iowa State had more wins than Barker at match play. Even though he is a sophomore, Barker knows what he wants his legacy at Iowa State to be.

“I want to leave this team in a better place than where I found it, the seniors told us that all the time last year, we should all want to improve something before we are finished,” Barker said. “I would like more personality to be left with the guys here and I hope we all can break some records and achieve some big things.”

Offseason full of Decisions

Iowa State will not return to the course till Jan. 28, which Coach Tank said offers time for reflection and an opportunity for the team to build off the first half of the year. Tank made notice of the Cyclones’ lack of execution and the tendency to start slow at tournaments which he says brings a challenge to the whole team.

“I told the guys that they will have to decide what they want to be and perform like,” Tank said. “In a perfect world you get back out there and play and move forward but we are going to have to sit with this loss till January.”

Tank did not let the negativity of the moment overshadow Iowa State’s strong first start to the season.

“We overcame a lot of adversity in some of our first tournaments and got some victories so that is always a good sign,” Tank said. “Lachlan has two great finishes for us and Tripp gave us a big one too early on in the year.

“I believe we will be stronger once the spring rolls around.”

Iowa State men’s golf will not play again until the Arizona Intercollegiate in Tucson, Arizona, on Jan. 28.