The man accused of murdering a top Iowa college golfer was a drifter who recently professed “an urge to rape and kill a woman,” authorities said Tuesday.

Collin Daniel Richards had been living in a makeshift campsite in a wooded area near the Coldwater Links course in Ames, where the body of champion golfer Celia Barquin Arozamena, 22, was found early Monday, police Cmdr. Geoff Huff said during a Tuesday press conference.

Shortly after Arozamena was found dead with multiple stab wounds in a pond near hole 9, cops encountered a man walking on a nearby trail.

The man, identified as D.B., said he’d stayed with a man identified as Richards, 22, at the campsite. He recounted walking near the golf course a few days ago, when Richards said he felt the need to commit rape and murder, according to court documents reported by KCCI.

Meanwhile, a police dog from the Boone County Sheriff’s Office followed the young golfer’s scent to the wooded area and cops came upon Collin Daniel Richards there Monday afternoon, Huff said.

He had several scratches on his face, consistent with a fight, and was trying to hide a cut on his left hand, Huff said.

At some point that day, Richards had gone to another location to bathe, he told officers. Witnesses there told investigators he had been disheveled and covered in blood, sand and water.

A search of a tent at the campsite uncovered a knife and a black backpack that contained two pairs of shorts covered in blood, Huff said.

Investigators said the golf champion was stabbed in her upper torso, head and neck. She’d been golfing alone Monday morning.

Cops are still looking into how Richards got onto the course and said there was no indication he knew Arozamena.

“It’s really troubling that something like this would happen in broad daylight,” Huff said. “It’s an awful thing that’s happened.”

Richards, who is charged with first-degree murder, made his initial appearance in Story County Courthouse on Tuesday morning, the Des Moines Register reported.

His bond was set at $5 million cash.