Wildcats set to tee off in Southland tournament

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FRISCO -- The 52nd annual Southland Conference Men's Golf Championship will be held Monday through Wednesday at Stonebridge Ranch Country Club in McKinney.

Sam Houston State will be trying to defend last year's title, which was its third overall Southland championship and first since the 1994 season. The Bearkats will be doing so on the same par-72, 7,219-yard Pete Dye Signature Course in McKinney where the championship returns for the fourth consecutive season.

Sam Houston, Southeastern Louisiana and McNeese State are the favorites entering the tournament, though Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian and UIW have already claimed team titles already this season. However, ACU and UIW will be ineligible to win the team title while in transition to Division I from Division II.

ACU has claimed two tournament titles while UIW won one tournament crown. ACU took its first tournament of the season with the Charles Coody West Texas Intercollegiate, Sept. 8-9 and then won its first spring title at the UTPA Classic, Feb. 16-17. The Cardinals won their lone tournament at the Atchafalaya Intercollegiate hosted by Nicholls, Feb. 23-24.

ACU and UIW, which are not eligible to earn the Southland's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament during their transition period from Division II to Division I, will be participating in this year's tournament unattached. If the Wildcats or Cardinals were to win the event, the next-highest finishing team will move on to represent the Southland in an NCAA regional. Likewise, the Southland's top individual, excluding ACU and UIW, automatically qualifies for the NCAA tournament.

The conference tournament is slated to tee off Monday at 7:30 a.m. Pairings are based on team seeding, which is calculated using the Golfstat rankings. Players will play 18 holes of golf Monday and Tuesday before playing the final round of 18 holes Wednesday.

Sam Houston, which will be looking to become the first Southland champion to repeat since Lamar did so from 2006-09, is the top-rated Southland team according to the Golfstat rankings, which is used to seed the teams in the opening round. In last year's championship, the Bearkats led all three days and shot a three-round total of 14-over par 878 to win by six strokes. The Bearkats will be led by returning all-conference selection senior Zach Cabra, last season's newcomer of the year and individual medalist at the league championship. Cabra is the 74th-ranked player in the country and has won two individual titles this season with victories at the Harold Funston Intercollegiate and at the Bayou City Collegiate Championship. The Bearkats have won two tournament this season, defending its title at the Harold Funston Intercollegiate, Oct. 6-7, after winning the Badger Invitational hosted by Wisconsin, Sept. 28-30.

Southeastern Louisiana, which has won four league titles with its last in 2013, is the second-ranked team and has won one tournament this season. The Lions opened up its fall season with a win at the Sam Hall Intercollegiate hosted by Southern Miss, Sept. 8-9. In last year's tournament, the Lions shot the lowest round of the tournament in the final day, but its rally fell just short as Southeastern finished second.

McNeese State, which has won one tournament already this season, will look to claim its first Southland title since 1979. The Cowboys finished sixth last season in the conference tournament, which was their best finish since 2005, where they also finished in sixth place. McNeese heads into the conference championship with momentum, having won the Cowboy Classic hosted by Wyoming, April 6-7.

As the top three seeds, Sam Houston, Southeastern and McNeese, will play together in Monday's opening round with approximate tee times from 9:45 through 10:21 a.m.

Stephen F. Austin, Abilene Christian and UIW are the other league teams to have won titles this season. The Lumberjacks had its best finish since 2003 last season then they tied for third place in the conference championship. SFA last won the conference title in 1999 when head coach Trey Schroeder tied for fourth as a player for the Lumberjacks. This season, SFA won the Arkansas State Beach Classic, Nov. 7-8, a tournament in which sophomore Baxter Ward defeated junior teammate Luke Sheehan in a playoff to claim top medalist honors.

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