THIS WEEK: The 38th-ranked SMU men's golf team travels to Iowa City, Iowa to compete in the 23rd annual Hawkeye Invitational. The two-day tournament opens Saturday, with tee times slated for 9 a.m. CT.

THE EVENT: The Hawkeye Invitation will be played on the Finkbine Golf Course, a 7,239-yard track, that plays at par 72. Thirty-six holes will take place on Saturday, with the final 18 on Sunday. Th tournament is in a shotgun start format with tee times set for 9 a.m. CT both days.

THE FIELD: The 14-team field at the Hawkeye Invitational features: Denver, DePaul, Idaho, Iowa (Host), Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Minnesota, Nebraska, South Alabama, South Dakota State, SMU, UMKC, and Wichita State.

ABOUT SMU: SMU is ranked 38th by Golfweek and 48th by Golfstat. The Mustangs have finished top 10 in seven of eight tournaments this season, finishing first-place twice. SMU closed out the fall with its first victory at the Erin Hills Intercollegiate, before opening the spring season with a win at the Farms Collegiate Invitational. The Mustangs are coming off a ninth-place finish at the Mason Rudolph Invitational, where senior Ryan Burgess recorded his second top-20 of the season. SMU's only finish outside of the top ten came at The Goodwin (T11). Burgess tallied SMU's only individual title this season at the Farms Collegiate Invitational (-7 ,209). Austin Smotherman and Alex Higgs both have four top-10 finishes. Smotherman has two top-five finishes, with a best of second-place.

SCOUTING REPORT: The field at the Hawkeye Invitational will feature two top-50 teams on the Golfweek/Sagarin poll, with SMU leading the way at 38. Kansas is the only other team inside the top 50 sitting at No. 44. The Jayhawks have finished in the top 10 in all 10 of their tournaments, with seven top-five finishes. Kansas has three team victories. Senior Ben Welle leads the Jayhawks with two individual titles this season. Kansas is coming off its worst finish of the season, an eighth place finish at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate. Host school Iowa is the only other team inside the top 70 at No. 61. The Hawkeyes have finished inside of the top 10 six times, including a win at the Golfweek Conference Challenge. Carson Schaake and Nate Yankovich lead the team with two top-10 finishes, while Raymond Knoll is the only Hawkeye to record a victory.

LAST TIME ON THE LINKS: The SMU men's golf team finished in ninth place at the Mason Rudolph Championship on the Vanderbilt Legends South Course, Sunday. The Mustangs carded an 888 (+36) in the 54-hole tournament and finished four strokes back from a tie for seventh with Ball State and Lamar (+32, 884). Host school No. 9 Vanderbilt (-5, 847) won the tournament, while No. 19 Florida boasted the top individual performer in sixth-ranked Sam Horsfield (-7, 206). Florida finished second, one stroke behind Vanderbilt.In his second top-20 finish of the season, Ryan Burgess paced the Mustangs, shooting 3-over par (74) in the final round on the par-71 course. Burgess carded a three-round score of 219 (+6) to finish 19th. The Rancho Santa Fe, Calif., native worked an unblemished front nine, before recording two birdies on the back nine.

SMOTHERMAN, HIGGS GUIDING MUSTANGS: Austin Smotherman and Alex Higgs continue to guide the Mustangs, each with four top-10 finishes. Smotherman has two top five finishes this season, including a season-best finish of tied for second.

SMU's FALL SEASON IN REVIEW: SMU closed its fall season with a win at the Erin Hills Intercollegiate. The Mustangs opened the season with a sixth-place finish at the Gopher Invitational behind strong performances from Alex Higgs and Austin Smotherman, who finished tied for 10th and 17th, respectively. The Mustangs found another sixth-place finish at the GolfWeek Conference Challenge, shooting a 7-under 857. Alex Higgs led the Mustangs with a 6-under 210 to tie for seventh. SMU was scheduled to play in Dallas at the Royal Oaks Invitational to round off the fall season, however the tournament was cancelled due to severe weather.

THE POLLS ARE IN: The Mustangs are currently ranked on two major polls, being listed at No. 38 by Golfweek/Sagarin and No. 48 by Golfstat.com.

BETTER WITH AGE: SMU returns seven players from a successful 2014-15 season that earned five top-five finishes, including a win at The Goodwin, before claiming the American Athletic Conference Championship title and NCAA Regional title. The Mustang 2015-16 roster features seven returning members, including five upperclassmen. The only newcomer to the squad is Dallas-native Piran Adi. Senior Austin Smotherman alongside Ryan Burgess and Maxime Blandin look to lead the Mustangs. Bryson DeChambeau left SMU at the beginning of the 2015-16 season to train for The Master and U.S. Open.

NCAA SANCTION UPDATE : The NCAA imposed several sanctions on the men's golf team, most notably a postseason ban for the 2015-16 season, as well as reductions of scholarships available next three years. SMU has appealed both.

"My focus remains on our student-athletes who are most impacted by the Committee's decisions," said head coach Jason Enloe. "While we are all hopeful that our appeal will be successful, our program will grow stronger regardless of the outcome, and with great student-athletes on our team and a new golf facility on the horizon, I know that great days and championships are ahead for SMU men's golf."

DECHAMBEAU LOW AMATEUR IN MASTERS: Former SMU golfer and highly-decorated amateur Bryson DeChambeau will add the Silver Cup to his trophy case after earning low-amateur honors at the 80th edition of the Masters Sunday. DeChambeau (+5, 293) carded an even-par 72 in the final round to top fellow amateur, Romain Langasque from France. The Clovis, Calif., native was one of two amateurs to make the cut. Langasque finished tied for 39th (+10, 298). The 22-year-old DeChambeau carded 13 birdies and 45 pars over the course of the tournament.

DECHAMBEAU MAKES HISTORY: SMU's Bryson DeChambeau won the 115th U.S. Amateur Championship, joining Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicklaus and Ryan Moore, as the only golfers to win the NCAA Individual Championship and the U.S. Amateur.

SMU U.S. AMATEUR SUCCESS: Since 1998, four Mustangs have won the U.S. Amateur, more than any collegiate program during that span. DeChambeau is the fourth joining the class consisted of Kelly Kraft (2011), Colt Knost (2007) and Hank Kuehne (1998).

REMEMBERING PAYNE STEWART: October 25, 2015 marks the 16-year anniversary of the tragic passing of one of SMU's most prominent athletes and one of golf's most charismatic figures, Payne Stewart. The two-time U.S. Open Champion was named as an inductee of the 2015 PGA of America Hall of Fame on Oct. 15.

TRINITY FOREST: NEW HOME OF SMU GOLF
Scheduled to open in the fall of 2016, Trinity Forest Golf Club will become the new home course for SMU Golf. Trinity Forest will resemble many of the great old courses of the Northeast and Great Britain, featuring a links style course on a rolling meadow with tall native grasses and dramatic bunkering and green complexes.

The team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw -- Coore & Crenshaw, Inc. -- is building both the championship golf course as well as the short course. The design of Trinity Forest will honor classic golf courses with traditional, strategic golf and great artistry as the guiding philosophy.

Located in the 6,000 acre Great Trinity Forest near the Trinity River Audubon Center about 10 minutes south of downtown Dallas, the 400 acre site will ultimately consist of an 18-hole championship golf course, a world-class practice facility, a clubhouse, a practice academy for SMU's golf teams, a teaching center for The First Tee of Greater Dallas as well as all the necessary infrastructure for hosting prestigious events held by the PGA TOUR, PGA of America and United States Golf Association and the NCAA Tournament.