ISU men’s golf tied for eighth after difficult day in Louisiana
Richard Martinez/Iowa State Dail
Sam Daley, senior from Australia, warms up for practice at Iowa State’s golf performance facility south of campus. The men’s golf team prepared for the Badger Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin, making it the first Big 10 tournament the team will play on the road this season. Iowa State placed second overall with a score of 872, just one stroke behind winners Sam Houston State with 871.
October 4, 2014
The ISU men’s golf team has made it a habit to get off to slow starts and at the David Toms Intercollegiate that pattern repeated.
After two of three rounds in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the Cyclones are tied for eight place out of 12 teams and face a 27-shot deficit from first place.
On a day where only four of 128 individual rounds were at par or better, Iowa State succumbed to the difficult scoring conditions en route to a 47-over-par total of 623 (318+305).
Senior Sam Daley was a bright spot for Iowa State, as his rounds of 75 and 77 were good for an eight-over-par total of 152, putting him in a tie for 16th place. He is nine shots behind leader Benjamin Taylor of Louisiana State heading into the final round.
The nine-shot deficit is just one shot higher than the deficit that Daley’s teammate, Scott Fernandez, came back from to win Sept. 30 at the Badger Invitational.
Daley is the lone Cyclone to avoid a double-bogie or worse thus far.
Two shots behind Daley is sophomore Ruben Sondjaja, who is coming off of a tie for fifth-place finish at the Badger Invitational.
Sondjaja posted rounds of 80 and 74 and capped his second round with birdies on holes 16 and 17 to help Iowa State make a late rally from 12th place late in the day.
His 74 was Iowa State’s lowest round of the day and helped him move into a tie for 25th place.
Iowa State’s third-highest finisher is Fernandez, who is in a tie for 43rd place with a 159 total (83+76).
Sophomore Nick Voke and redshirt junior Collin Foster are both tied for 50th place with totals of 161. Voke posted rounds of 83 and 78, while Foster finished with rounds of 80 and 81.
While Iowa State was able to shave off 13 shots from its first round score, the hole dug from its first round performance may be too deep to earn a third straight runner-up finish.
In the Cyclones’ first two events, they posted their best score in the final round to mount late rallies, but were within 14 shots of the lead in both occasions. This week, Iowa State is 27 shots behind co-leaders Southeastern Louisiana and Louisiana State.
Though a top-two finish is a long shot, Iowa State is within seven shots of fourth-place Mercer and. At the Badger Invitational, Iowa State erased 13 shots of a 14-shot deficit it faced in the final round in its near-comeback effort.
Third and final round play will take place Oct. 5 from the University Club in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at 8:30 a.m. CST.
