State of the Cyclones: Why the future looks bright for men’s golf
By Doug Winkey
Welcome to our next installment of State of the Cyclones. This week we will be looking at very solid performance from the men’s golf team in 2013-2014 and why the future looks bright for the squad.
More from Iowa State Cyclones
- Get Cyclones News, in the New FanSided Android App
- Clones Confidential Madness: Win $500 or an Apple TV from RetailMeNot and LockerDome
- FanSided Madness: Win $500 or an Apple TV from RetailMeNot and LockerDome
- Get Instant Cyclones News, in the New Sports Illustrated App
- Make sure a Cyclones fan is crowned Fan of the Year
In general, the Cyclone men played well over the course of the most recent season. They finished second in 5 of the 15 tournaments in which they participated. They were led by seniors Zach Steffen and Duncan Croudis, with the rest of the roster containing 3 freshman, a redshirt sophomore, and 2 juniors. Given the combination of youth and success it is easy to be hopeful for the team to reach even greater heights in 2014-2015.
As far as individual tournament results, we will start with the Big 12 championship that was held in Trinity, Texas. The men finished fourth of the nine teams there, which was their second best result at the tournament in ISU history.
The Cyclones were led by junior Sam Daley, who was a runner-up medalist with a score of 286. He was not the only great performer, as two other Cyclones made the top 10. You can read the full result breakdown here.
The other contest is the NCAA Tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. Iowa State finished in 25th place, but still had several notable individual performances from juniors Scott Fernandez and Sam Daley.
Fernandez carded a 1-over 71 final round to finish 82nd (217 total), but was in the top 100 nationally at the end of the year. Daley carded a 4-over 74 round to end his tournament, but still finished 55th overall thanks to a strong first and second rounds. You can read the write-up about the NCAA result here.
2013-2014 marked Iowa State’s first appearance at the NCAA finals since the 1950’s and there is every reason to believe the future of Cyclone men’s golf looks bright. Be sure to check in next week when we’ll be looking at another one of ISU’s great sports teams.