Iowa State men’s golf will tee off Sunday in their first competition at the Fighting Irish Classic in South Bend, Indiana.

Iowa State will open the season ranked 103rd among Division 1 schools. The Cyclones finished last season 8th at the Big 12 Championship. 

Three freshmen joined the roster this season, two of which, Paul Beauvy and Kyo Morishita, will see their first start this weekend. 

“ There’s been a new energy,” said head coach Andrew Tank when asked about how they have all impacted the team before the first competition. “They’ve been able to show the rest of the guys what they’re capable of. I think it’s obvious to everyone that they’ve got some game.” 

Morishita, originally from Amagasaki, Japan, shared what made him choose Iowa State instead of another school or just going pro.

“My first offer was from Iowa State, and that meant a lot to me,” Morishita said. “Coach had been asking me to come down here for a long time. Some coaches only reach out after a good tournament and not after a bad one, he kept the same energy for me.” 

Another freshman on the team from outside the United States, Zach May, shared what’s been difficult so far with transitioning from collegiate golf and being away from his hometown of Christchurch, New Zealand. 

“It hasn’t been too bad, my sister went to college at Ole Miss, and I got an idea off of her,” May said. “It’s been really smooth so far and a dream come true.”

Last season Iowa State finished 13th out of 14 teams at the Fighting Irish Classic with a three-round total score of 875, with the best score coming from Luke Gutschewski with a total of 216.

“It’s a really nice golf course; they’ve hosted a number of collegiate events,” Tank said when asked about his thoughts on the course. “The course has small greens, so it’s quite challenging around the green. It doesn’t give up a lot of low scores, but you can make a lot of birdies. It’s a good test of golf and strategy,” 

“There’s a lot of good teams that are going to be there. We’ll know a lot more about where we stand after playing,” Tank said.

Iowa State’s season opener will kick off Sunday morning and will wrap up Monday.