ISU men’s golf finalizes win or bust season, looks to young golfers

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Kelby Wingert/Iowa State Daily

Senior golfer Scott Fernandez works on his putting at practice on April 14.

Mike Randleman

In many ways, the 2014-15 ISU men’s golf season was one of the most successful in the history of the program.

Four individual victories, the first team victory since 2011 and four runner-up finishes highlight the 2014-15 campaign, but what might stand out was the void that was left at the end of the season.

With its top-six golfers returning from a team that advanced to the NCAA finals for the first time in more than 50 years, the mantra was finals or bust for this year’s squad.

The Cyclones appeared destined to make another trip to nationals this year after under-par team rounds on the first two days to hang near the top five to advance, but a challenging final day spelled the end of the road for Iowa State as it finished in eighth place.

“We had some really nice individual victories, we finally got that team victory that we’ve been looking for [at the Hawkeye Invitational], so there are a lot of good things,” said ISU coach Andrew Tank. “But I’d be lying to say it’s not disappointing to finish the season this way.”

It was an even tougher pill to swallow for a pair of seniors in Sam Daley and Scott Fernandez, who own the seventh and first lowest career scoring averages in program history, respectively.

“It was a rough day, we’re hoping for a lot more,” Fernandez said on the final day of the tournament. “It was just sad that we didn’t perform our best today. There’s not much too say, really.”

The NCAA regional was an anomalous way for Fernandez to finish his career, as he finished in a tie for 46th place, only the 10th time in 49 career tournaments where he finished outside the top 25.

Even with a trying final tournament, Fernandez posted the fifth best single season scoring average (71.89) in program history. He had eight top 10 finishes, including two victories.

Fellow senior Daley played well in Bremerton, and salvaged a rocky season with three top 10s in his final five tournaments, including two runner-ups and a tie for 10th place at regionals.

As the duo embarks on professional careers, a new duo is in line to step up for Iowa State in Nick Voke and Ruben Sondjaja.

Voke, a sophomore, largely kept up with four-year leader Fernandez in production this season.

The Auckland, New Zealand, native also won twice and was Iowa State’s No. 2 option all season with a 72.40 scoring average.

Fellow sophomore Ruben Sondjaja also has two years under his belt as a starter, but will be relied upon heavily as he is projected to be the No. 2 starter next year.

Sondjaja recorded a 73.08 average and had two top 10 finishes this season.

Redshirt junior Collin Foster will move to the No. 4 slot and sophomore Jack Carter, who has a handful of starts in his career, is projected to be No. 5.

Foster and Carter had relatively uneventful seasons, with Carter’s best finish a tie for 31st in six tournaments and Foster’s a tie for 32nd in 11 tries.

On paper, the 2015-16 season appears to be a rebuilding year as Iowa State, which finished the 2014-15 season ranked No. 43 by Golfstat and No. 40 by Golfweek.

“There’s some big shoes to fill with [Daley and Fernandez] moving on,” Tank said. “I think Ruben and Collin are going to have to step it up. I think they’re capable of it. They’ll really have to take their game to another level, but I look forward to helping them get there.”

Iowa State will begin the 2015-16 season in early September.