MCKINNEY, Texas – Postseason play begins within the Southland Conference as all seven teams are set to meet at the 2022 Southland Men's Golf Championship at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club in McKinney, Texas. The championship will be a three-round event, beginning Monday, April 25, and wrapping up Wednesday, April 27.
Seeding order for the event has been determined based upon each team's national Golfstat ranking. Francis Marion currently ranks 130th in the nation and enters the championship as the No. 1 seed. Augusta will be the No. 2 seed, followed by Southeastern at the No. 3 position. New Orleans holds the No. 4 spot, just ahead of No. 5 UIW, No. 6 HBU and No. 7 Nicholls.
Nicholls and HBU will pair off to open the first round, teeing off at 10 a.m. CT on hole No. 1. UIW and New Orleans will be grouped together for an 10:45 a.m. start to their pairings, and Southeastern, Augusta and Francis Marion are slated for an 11:30 a.m. start and will close out the first-round tee times. All pairings are slotted to begin in nine-minute increments, beginning at 10 a.m. and the final trio teeing off at 12:06 p.m.
The Colonels have been led this season by
Ryan O'Neil and
Braxton Kuntz. O'Neil has a stroke average of 73.48 and has one tournament win under his belt - the Gulf Coast Collegiate in early March. Not including the victory, the Charlotte native has three top 15 finishes.
Kuntz is close behind with a 73.95 stroke average. He has finished in the top 10 in two of the last three tournaments, highlighted by taking third in HBU's Colin Montgomerie.
The rest of the lineup will be
Martin Trochu,
Mickael Najmark and
Liam Bryden, with
Jace LeJeune as an alternate.
The Dye Course at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club is a par-72 course with a total yardage of 7,219. The front-nine holes are set at 3,521 yards, while the back nine combines for 3,698 yards. This will be the 10th time the Dye Course has served as host of the Southland Men's Golf Championship.
The Southland Champion will earn the conference's automatic bid to one of six regional sites for the 2022 NCAA Men's Golf Championship, scheduled for May 15-18. Additionally, the individual champion, if not a part of the championship team, will be granted an automatic selection into the NCAA Regional Tournament.
Qualifiers from the NCAA Regional Tournaments will earn a spot in the NCAA Men's Golf Championship, which will be hosted at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., May 27-June 1.
