Kinney Ready For Third-Straight NCAA Championship

AMES, Iowa – When Iowa State junior golfer Tripp Kinney entered school in the fall of 2016 he laid out some pretty lofty goals.

Right at the top of his challenging goal list was to play in the NCAA Championship in each of his four seasons.

So far, so good.

Kinney is ¾ way into achieving the historical feat, qualifying for the 2019 NCAA Championship last week by winning medalist honors at the NCAA Louisville Regional by one shot, the first tournament victory of his accomplished career.

"Iowa State had qualified for the NCAA Championship before I got here and the guys on the team when I first arrived were incredible golfers. I felt like I could help add to that," Kinney said. "I just felt like it was an attainable goal for Iowa State. I think Coach Tank has been behind it 100% of the way. It's motivated me so much. It's great to go this year but I want to go next year with the team. We have the same guys coming back, and we're going to make improvements over the summer. I think all of the guys are very excited about coming back."

Kinney will be a solo act this time, earning the lone individual qualifying spot at the Regional after competing with his teammates in his first two seasons in 2017 and 2018.

Although he would rather compete on college golf's grandest stage with his friends, Kinney is savoring the chance to continue his incredible junior season.

"I've always wanted to be the type of player that can play with anybody in the world," Kinney said. "But there's a difference between wanting it and actually being able to do it. For me that was my putting. It's always been my putting. If I could just make it better, just a little bit better, keep improving, I thought I would eventually get to that stage. I think getting to that stage and proving to myself that I can compete with the best golfers in the world, that's a special step to take, and I think there's definitely a lot more steps after it. But to get past that, and to get on the level of the best golfers in the world, it's very special."

Kinney, who is the first Cyclone to play in three NCAA Championships, will begin competition with the nation's elite on May 24 at the Blessings Golf Club in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Waukee, Iowa native will be the highest seed among the six individual qualifiers at the national meet. Kinney is guaranteed 54 holes of stroke play, May 24-26 on the daunting par-72, 7,550-yard layout.

After 54 holes, the top 15 teams among the 30 competing will advance for the final 18 holes of stroke play on Monday, May 27. The top nine individuals not on an advancing team will also remain in the tournament to determine the individual national champion.

Having your first career collegiate title come in a NCAA Regional is impressive. However, if you observed Kinney's body of work this year, it shouldn't be a surprise.

The three-year starter led the team in stroke average at 70.55, which is on pace to shatter the school's season record. He also led the team in top-10 performances (6) and made the Big 12 All-Tournament Team by tying for eighth at the conference meet.

In 33 rounds this season, Kinney has been at par or below 27 times. He's only shot worse than a 73 twice all year.

"Tripp is very deserving of this chance," Iowa State head coach Andrew Tank said. "I feel like he has paid his dues and he's worked hard. He's improved steadily since he's been here. I think he had close to a three-stroke improvement this year from his sophomore year. He really started to figure some things out, and what a great opportunity for him to go down there and play against the best players in the world."

Signs that Kinney was ready to take his game to the next level emerged after an incredible summer in 2018 when he won the Iowa Amateur, was runner-up in the Iowa Open and placed fifth at the Southwest Amateur.

Kinney's late-season surge has catapulted him up to No. 47 nationally in the latest Golfstat rankings. His confidence is growing and he's ready to prove he belongs with the best in the nation.

"It's going to be awesome to go down to Nationals for the third year in a row," Kinney said. "It's been nice to get there a couple times already. I'm really looking forward to just competing. You get to prove yourself against the best players in the world at Nationals. I think that's one of the great opportunities that Iowa State has continually been able to give me."

The Iowa State men's golf team ended the season ranked 35^th in the nation, appearing in its sixth NCAA Regional in the last eight seasons. An ISU individual or team has qualified for the NCAA Championship in five of the last eight seasons: 2012 (Nate McCoy), 2014 (Team), 2017 (Team), 2018 (Team), 2019 (Tripp Kinney).

2019 NCAA Men's Golf Championship Quick Facts
Where: Blessings Golf Club, Fayetteville, Ark.
When: May 24-29
Layout: 7,550 yards, par 72
Field: 156 players
Format: 72 holes of stroke play (May 24-27) to determine top eight teams for match play and individual national champion; Final two days (May 28-29) is match play to determine team national champion
Teams (In Order By Seed): Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Wake Forest, Vanderbilt, Texas, Oklahoma, Georgia Tech, Duke, USC, Stanford, Auburn, California, Clemson, Georgia, BYU, South Carolina, LSU, Texas A&M, North Florida, Pepperdine, Louisville, Liberty, Baylor, Illinois, North Carolina, TCU, UNLV, Ohio State, Georgia Southern, SMU
Individuals (In Order By Seed): Tripp Kinney (Iowa State), Edwin Yi (Oregon), Zach Smith (UC-Santa Barbara), Kyler Dunkle (Utah), Julian Perico (Arkansas), Billy Tom Sargent (Western Kentucky)
Television: Golf Channel (Coverage begins on Monday, May 27)
Live Scoring: http://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=17527

Players Mentioned

Tripp Kinney

Sponsors

Iowa State University Athletics