CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa --- The 2014 Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) men’s golf championship begins this weekend, Friday and Saturday, April 25 and 26, with the first 36 holes of the 72-hole Championship at Finkbine Golf Course in Iowa City. Friday's opening round will begin at 9 a.m., with teams teeing off at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

The final 36 holes will be played May 2-3 at Dubuque Golf and Country Club in Dubuque with teams teeing off beginning at noon on Friday and 10 a.m. on Saturday. The University of Dubuque is the host of the 2014 Iowa Conference Men’s Golf Championship.

On the first day of the Championship, teams will tee off according to seeding based on the averages from its four best 18-hole team scores during the spring. Players from teams seeded seventh (Coe) and eighth (Loras) will tee off in the first wave, followed by players from teams seeded fourth through sixth (Simpson, Wartburg, Buena Vista) in the second wave. Players from the top-three seeded teams (Central, Luther, Dubuque) will tee off in the final wave.

Pairings for the final three rounds will be based on the team score following the previous round. Teams placed first through third tee off first in round two followed by teams ranking fourth through sixth in the second wave and teams placed seventh and eighth in a final wave. Three waves will be employed on the second weekend at Dubuque Golf and Country Club with teams placed seventh and eighth teeing off first on both days of the tournament’s final weekend.

Each school may enter five players for each round with the four best performances each day used to determine the team score. Substitutions are not permitted from Friday to Saturday, however one player who competed the first weekend may be substituted for on the second weekend.

AQ on the Line: In 2007, the NCAA expanded the field size for the Division III Men’s Golf National Championship and began awarding automatic bids to qualifying Conferences. The Iowa Conference men’s golf champion will be the Conference’s automatic qualifier to the 2014 NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championship scheduled for May 13-16 at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro, N.C. Guilford College is this year's championship host.

About the 2014 Season: Five-time defending IIAC champion Central enters the 2014 Championship having won the Grand View Spring Viking Classic and finishing second at the Illinois-Springfield Spring Invitational and the Louisburg (N.C.) Hurricane UFO Dispute. The Dutch, who have two of the league's top 10 golfers this spring based on stroke average (minimum 3 rounds), rank third as a team with a 301.3 average over 10 varsity rounds this spring.

Luther, which has a league-low 297.4 scoring average over seven spring rounds and has four individuals in the league's top 10, picked up a dual win over Farmingdale State (N.Y.) over spring break in addition to a fourth-place finish at the Wartburg Invitation and fifth-place finishes at the Loras Duhawk Spring Invitational and the Grand View Spring Viking Classic. Dubuque has a 300.4 scoring average over eight spring rounds and has three individuals in the top-10. The Spartans did not finish outside of the top three in any tournament they played in this season with wins this spring at the Webster and Loras Spring Invitationals and third-place finishes at Illinois Wesleyan and Augustana (Ill.). Simpson sits fourth in stroke average this spring at 303.6 over five rounds and has one player ranked in the conference's spring top 10. The Storm won their own invitational and took second over Central at the Wartburg Invitational due to a tiebreaker.

Wartburg (6 rounds/310.0 average), Buena Vista (6 rounds/318.5) and Coe (9 rounds/325.1) all picked up spring-best third place finishes. Wartburg's was at the Loras Invitational while Buena Vista's was at its own invitational and Coe's was at the Simpson Invitational. Loras (6 rounds/329.5), with spring-best finish of 11th at its own invitational, rounds out the field.

Individually, Luther’s Andrew Peter (1st, 72.7) and Tobias Kohl (2nd, 73.3), Simpson's Trent Lindenman (3rd, 73.8) and Dubuque's Martin Odegard (4th, 74.6) hold the Conference's top four stroke averages among players with at least three spring rounds played. Dubuque's Josh Schubert (t-5th, 74.8) and Eric Wolfe (t-5th, 74.8), Central's Adam Squires (t-5th, 74.8) and Desmond Stoll (10th, 75.7) and Luther's Peter Kephart (8th, 75.0) and Britt Vander Linden (9th, 75.5) round out the top ten.

This spring, 18 golfers have fired a total of 29 rounds of par or better, led by Peter and Squires with four apiece. Central's Stoll and Jon Prescott, Dubuque's Odegard and Luther's Kohl and Elliot Horst each have two. Peter fired the league’s low round of the spring with a 4-under 67 in the first round of the Grand View Classic. Kohl had a 68 in the Norse's dual with Farmingdale State and Wolfe, Squires, Odegard and Prescott all carded one 69 this spring.

Seven times this spring, Iowa Conference golfers have claimed tournament medalist honors. Prescott and Central teammate David Watson tied for first at the UIS Spring Invitational with 1-under 70s, while Jared Nepomuceno matched the score in winning the Hurricane UFO Dispute. A fourth Central golfer – Mike Maller – fired a 5-over 147 (72-75) to tie for medalist honors at the Webster Invitational. Both Prescott and Maller were playing for Central's No. 2 team at the time of their wins. Odegard won the Loras Invitational by four strokes with a 2-under-par 140 (69-71). Kohl's 68 against Farmingdale State also earned him medalist honors, while Simpson's Andy Hutchins received medalist honors at his home invite via a tiebreaker over teammate Trent Lindenman after both fired 3-over 74s at Indianola Country Club on April 16.

2013 Championship Recap: Central College fired a final-round 298 at Finkbine Golf Course to complete a wire-to-wire title run at the 2013 Iowa Conference Men's Golf Championships. The title was the 31st in program history for the Dutch.

Central placed its four medalist-eligible golfers in the top 13, including three in the top six, to finish with a 72-hole team total of 1215. Luther, with two golfers in the top eight, took second at 1243. Wartburg and Dubuque also placed two players in the top 10 with the Knights edging the Spartans, 1253-1256, for third place. Simpson (1265), Buena Vista (1288), Loras (1312) and Coe (1319) rounded out the team totals.

Luther's Andrew Peter, who entered the final round with a 1-stroke lead, birdied two holes on each nine for matching 34s and a bogey-free 4-under 68. Peter finished with a 72-hole total of 293 to capture medalist and IIAC Men's Golfer of the Year honors by three strokes over Central's Justin Livingston (296). Peter is the first Norse IIAC Men's Golf MVP since Scott Theriault in 2000.

Livingston, who posted his third career top-3 finish at the conference meet, matched Peter with four birdies, but did have a bogey on each side for a 2-under 70. Livingston took third in 2012 and was also runner-up in 2011.

Central teammate Desmond Stoll finished third at 303, just ahead of Wartburg's Carson Barron (304) and Dubuque's Martin Odegard (305). Central's David Watson, Dubuque's Eric Wolfe and Luther's Tobias Kohl all tied at 306 with Watson taking sixth with a birdie on the first playoff hole. Wolfe (par-par) needed one more hole to edge Kohl (par-bogey) for seventh. Coe's Tyler Gunderson (310) took ninth and Wartburg's Jeremy Carper (311) finished 10th. The top 10 individuals earned all-Iowa Conference honors. It was the third for Livingston, Odegard, Kohl and Wolfe and the second for Gunderson.

Iowa Conference Men's Golf Coach of the Year honors were shared by Central's Chad Green and Simpson's Jason Marvelli. Green led the Dutch to their fifth consecutive title and sixth in seven years. Marvelli is the first Simpson men's golf coach to be named IIAC Coach of the Year.

Along with its 31st Iowa Conference men’s golf title, Central also earned an automatic bid to the 2013 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship where they finished 12th.

Top Returning Individuals: Twenty-six golfers with previous IIAC Championship experience return to their team’s lineup this year including eight who will be making their fourth appearance at the Conference Championship – Coe's Mitch Moon and Derek Nicholson, Dubuque's Martin Odegard, Mitch Sobotta and Eric Wolfe, Luther's Tobias Kohl, Simpson's Conner Juilfs and Wartburg's Matt Kristensen.

Fourteen of last year’s top-20 finishers, including eight of the top 10, return from last year. In addition to Peter, Stoll, Barron, Odegard, Kohl, Watson, Wolfe and Gunderson, Mitch Sobotta of Dubuque also has all-Iowa Conference honors to his credit. Sobotta placed 10th at the 2011 IIAC Championships. Odegard, Kohl and Wolfe will be looking for their fourth all-conference honor and Gunderson his third.

Probable lineups: Probable line-ups for the Conference Championship are listed below. Players in bold have previously competed in the Iowa Conference Championship.

Buena Vista — John Bral, Luke Anderson, Andrew Zinn, Brady Haye, Sam Pulkrabek
Central — Adam Squires, Desmond Stoll, David Watson, Jon Prescott, Clayton Curwin
Coe — Tyler Gunderson, Mitch Moon, Derek Nicholson, Kyle Boardman, Seth Inman
Dubuque — Eric Wolfe, Martin Odegard, Mitch Sobotta, Josh Schuberg, Troy Krueger
Loras — Jason Beer, Jon Nugent, Ben Suchomski, Logan Bahl, Jim Gallery
Luther — Andrew Peter, Tobias Kohl, Elliot Horst, Britton Vander Linden, Peter Kephart
Simpson — Trent Lindenman, Shaan Desai, Andy Hutchins, Nathan Molstead, Conner Juilfs
Wartburg — Ryan Shields, Dominick Smith, Matt Kristensen, Michael Canfield, Carson Barron