Three months after Iowa State men’s golf team was ranked 88th in the country and shot a team score of 325 in the first round of the Arizona Invitational, no one expected the Cyclones’ season to end in Stillwater, Okla., finishing in the top-20 at the NCAA Championships. 

The Cyclones shot a team score of 11-over-par 299 to finish with a three-round score of 27-over-par 891, putting Iowa State in 19th place, four spots and nine strokes outside the cut line for the final stroke play round.

The Cyclones started off hot on Sunday, with nine birdies as a team on the front half, compared to four on the back nine. 

Sophomore Tripp Kinney led the way for the Cyclones with an even-par 72 and finished three rounds at +7, and freshman Lachlan Barker ended his Championships run with a 2-over-par 74 and finished at +5. 

Senior Denzel Ieremia ended his Iowa State career with a 3-over-par 75 to finish the Championships at +6. 

The senior finishes his final season with a scoring average of 71.94 (calculated before the NCAA Championships) and seven top-10 finishes. 

The final two scores for the Cyclones on Sunday came from sophomore Sam Vincent, who shot a 6-over-par 78, and freshman Frank Lindwall, who finished the season with a 7-over-par 79. 

The Cyclones had started hot on Friday afternoon, at one point -3 as a team and finishing third in the first wave of 15 teams. Tied for 11th after one round, Iowa State was in a solid position to make the first cut. After a team round of 302 on Saturday, that job was made a lot tougher. Dropping down to 23rd, Iowa State was on the outside looking in.

The Cyclones’ hot start on Sunday put them only two shots out of 15th place with nine holes to play. However, the team shot a combined 10-over-par on the back nine to fall nine shots out. 

This is the second-straight season that Iowa State has finished in the top-20 of the NCAA Championships. 

Through three rounds, four of the seven Big 12 teams that qualified for the Championships are in the final 15: Oklahoma State (second), Texas Tech (third), Oklahoma (fifth) and Texas (10th). 

Monday’s round of stroke play determined the individual champion, and the top eight teams will move on to two days of match play, with the final match coming on Wednesday. 

As for Iowa State, the Cyclones head into the offseason with high expectations for the 2018-19 season.

Iowa State will return seven players, including sophomores Tripp Kinney and Sam Vincent and freshmen Frank Lindwall and Lachlan Barker.