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Hawkeyes Set For Big Ten Championships

Sports

April 24th, 2024 by Asa Lucas

THIS WEEK

The University of Iowa men’s golf team is set to travel to Columbus, Ohio to compete in the Big Ten Championships April 26-28 at Scioto Golf Club.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

The 54-hole tournament tees off on Friday and concludes Sunday, with 18 holes to be played each day. The tournament is set to tee off at 9 a.m. (ET) Friday and Saturday with the final round teeing off at 8 a.m. (ET) on Sunday.

FOLLOW THE ACTION

You can follow this week’s action by visiting golfstat.com for live scoring. Links can be found on the men’s golf schedule page at hawkeyesports.com.

THE FIELD

All 14 Big Ten opponents will be competing in the tournament, the field features five Spikemark top-50 ranked opponents: No. 18 Illinois, No. 46 Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska, No. 44 Northwestern, No. 36 Ohio State, Penn State, No. 28 Purdue, Rutgers, and Wisconsin.

THE COURSE

Designed by renowned Scottish-born architect Donald Ross, with the opening of the golf course in 1916, a decade later the course hosted the 1926 U.S. Open Championship won by golfing legend Bobby Jones.  Scioto is one of only five golf courses in the United States to have hosted five different major championships.  The 1931 Ryder Cup, the 1950 PGA Championship, the 1968 U.S. Amateur, and the 1986 Senior U.S. Open each added to the tournament legacy and prestige of the Club.

Scioto has been acclaimed around the world as a strategic routing and a course that demands precise shot-making.  The golf course, recently renovated in 2021 by Andrew Green, where fairway widths were widened to original size, Ross designed features such as hummocks and flat bottom bunkers were again restored to showcase the original design while built for the modern player.  Features that were removed in previous renovations, were restored and the greens were rebuilt in the style that represented the era when the course first opened over 100 years ago.  

Today, the course provides a great test to the finest players in the world, ready to host major championships, and yet is one that is most enjoyable for all levels of players.  The USGA will return to Scioto for the 2026 U.S. Senior Open and the 2036 U.S. Amateur Championship.

TOURNAMENT HISTORY

Iowa has earned one team Big Ten Championship in program history. The Hawkeyes won the conference title in 1992 at Finkbine Golf Course.

Mac McClear was the co-medalist in 2023 where he became the first Hawkeye to win multiple conference championships after also winning the event in 2021. McClear became the 16thmen’s golfer to win multiple Big Ten Championships with the victory last season. 

McClear is one of four Hawkeyes to win the individual medalist at the Big Ten Championships, joining Carson Schaake (2015), Brad Klapprott (1992) and John Jacobs (1946).

Illinois won the Big Ten Championships in 2023 at eight-under par, leading the field by 17 strokes. Iowa tied for fifth place.