FAYETTE, Iowa - The Peacock men's golf team begins the 2025-26 season on Monday and Tuesday at The Mule hosted by Central Missouri. The Mule National Golf Club hosts the tournament. Head coach Mike Lewis enters his 15th season with the program in 2025-26.
MEET THE PEACOCKS: RETURNERS
The Peacocks return four golfers who competed at last season's GLVC tournament in junior Christian Burkhart, senior Owen Davison, sophomore Joseph Grau and sophomore Jack Miller. Davison returns as the top golfer for the Peacocks and his highest finish last season was third place at the Wartburg Spring Invitational.
"Owen's had a great summer playing in a lot of quality golf tournaments," Lewis said. "He finished fourth at the IGA Classic Tournament a few weeks ago. It really opened his eyes to what he needs to focus on for the fall. He led our qualifying over our four rounds last week."
Burkhart returns for his junior season after shooting a scoring average of 78.9 last season. Last fall, he shot a season-best score of 149 (+5) to lead the team in 26th place at the Watkins Invitational.
"Christian's really good at hitting it down the fairway and getting it on the green," Lewis said. "He shoots a lot of pars and rarely makes a mistake. He's a tough, gritty competitor and doesn't like to lose. He's a good pusher for Owen and it's a nice one-two punch."
Grau is back after shooting an average of 79.0 last year. His best tournament was the Wartburg Spring Invitational, where he placed 10th shooting 152 (+8).
"Joseph is a steady Eddy," Lewis said. "He's a farm kid and has that mentality. He's just steady and is going to be a solid three or four spot for us."
Jack Miller is unlikely to compete this fall as he is also a member of the basketball team. He will play for the golf team in the spring while continuing to practice this fall.
MEET THE PEACOCKS: NEWCOMERS
The team added three newcomers to this year's squad. Two of the newcomers are freshmen in Ethan Anderson from Oelwein High School and Ethan Calahan from Independence High School.
"We've known Ethan and Ethan since they've started playing golf since they are local," Lewis said. "They both come from golf families and grew up in our junior golf program and junior PGA program. We've always wanted them to be a part of Peacock golf and are really excited that they are here."
Transfer Jaxx Johnson is also new to the roster and is pushing towards making the top five.
"Jaxx is from Phoenix, so he's just getting used to the terrain, grass and a little chillier weather," Lewis said. "He's had a good few qualifying rounds and I'm looking forward to him making a push to the top five."
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
After The Mule Invitational, the team heads north to Hudson, Wisconsin, to compete in the CSP/MSU Fall Brawl on Sept. 15-16. The Peacocks will also compete in Winona State's (Minn.) Jewel Invitational, Lewis' (Ill.) Flyers Fall Intercollegiate and McKendree's (Ill.) Bearcat Dual Gender.
"We always like going up to Minnesota and battling our NSIC foes from years past," Lewis said. "I have some great relationships with those fellow coaches. It's always nice to go up to Minnesota in the fall and play at two quality golf courses at The Jewel and Troy Burne. Competing up there in the fall is always nice and refreshing as the leaves change. Just a beautiful area to play golf in."
