ATHENS, Ga. – Led by Alex Schaake’s third place finish, the University of Iowa men’s golf team placed eighth in the Southern Intercollegiate, a one-day, 36-hole event hosted by the University of Georgia. The Hawkeyes carded a 36-hole total of 603 (+27; 300, 303) at the par-72 Athens Country Club that stretches 6,917 yards.
The 18-team event featured only one team score under par. Cold weather paired with wind and rain made the course hard to navigate. Iowa still ranked fourth in the tournament with 105 pars.
Schaake put together two par or better rounds to rack up his third top-five finish of the season. He eagled the par-five 10th hole twice today and added another eagle on hole six in the second round to register a two-round 142 (-2: 72, 70). The Omaha native limited the number of bogeys in his second round to nearly erase a four-stroke deficit going into the second round.
No. 18 Arkansas took home the team and individual title. As a team, the Razorbacks won by 17 strokes with a two-round 567 (-9; 285, 282). Luis Garza earned medalist honors with a three-under-par (141).
Junior Matthew Walker tied for 22nd with a 36-hole score of 149 (+5; 73, 76). Walker had three birdies in each round to register his fifth finish inside the top-30.
Benton Weinberg, Sam Meuret, and Jack Simpson rounded out the Hawkeye lineup. Meuret fired a first-round 76 to tie for 52nd, while Simpson tied for 78th in his first stroke-play event of the season.
IOWA SCORECARD
8.
Iowa
300
303
+27
3.
Alex Schaake
72
70
-2
T-22.
Matthew Walker
73
76
+5
T-52.
Sam Meuret
76
79
+12
T-63.
Benton Weinberg
79
78
+11
T-78.
Jack Simpson
81
80
+17
HAWKEYES ON THE TEAM LEADERBOARD
Schaake’s first top-five finishes came at the Golfweek Conference Challenge where he finished second and the Windon Memorial Classic where he tied for fifth. On the course’s hardest holes (12,13,18) this tournament, Iowa had four birdies of the tournament’s 20.
COACH STITH'S COMMENTS
“We showed a little rustiness and made a lot of silly mistakes today. The weather was tough and magnified those errors. Alex (Schaake) carried the team on his back today. He had a chance to win and nearly holed a bunker shot on the last hole that would have given him a share of the title.”
NEXT TOURNAMENT
The Hawkeyes stay in Georgia to play in the Schenkel Invitational for the fourth straight year at Forest Heights Country Club, March 16-18. Last year’s sixth place finish was Iowa’s best at the Schenkel. Walker, who tied for 24th with an even-par 216, Schaake, Simpson, and Ryoto Furuya all competed in last year’s competition.
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