No. 29 Men’s Golf Seeks Title at NCAA National Championship
5/24/2018 9:31:00 PM | Men's Golf
KENT, Ohio- The No. 29 Kent State men's golf team will look to reach the pinnacle of collegiate golf, as the Flashes enter the 2018 NCAA National Championship at Karsten Creek in Stillwater, Okla.
The Golden Flashes are set to compete from May 25-30. The tournament format includes 30 teams competing over the first three rounds of stroke play from Friday to Sunday. The field is reduced to 15 teams for the final round of stroke play Monday, after which the NCAA will crown an individual medalist. On Tuesday, the top eight teams will compete in match play quarter and semifinals. Finally, the remaining two teams will compete Wednesday for the NCAA National Championship. The Golf Channel will broadcast the final three days of competition.
All 30 teams in the field competed in six separate regional tournaments. Every team finished in the top-5 to earn their spot in the final dance. The entire field is as follows, in order of seeding:
- Oklahoma State 16. Stanford
- Texas A&M 17. Arkansas
- Oklahoma 18. Arizona State
- Vanderbilt 19. UNLV
- Alabama 20. North Florida
- Florida 21. Kentucky
- Auburn 22. UCLA
- Illinois 23. Duke
- Baylor 24. KENT STATE
- Texas Tech 25. Oregon
- Clemson 26. North Western
- Texas 27. NC State
- North Carolina 28. Iowa State
- Brigham Young 29. Central Florida
- Kansas 30. Augusta
Kent State will enter the tournament with three of the five players in the lineup nationally ranked. Ian Holt leads the pack as the 27th ranked golfer in the country, followed by No. 152 Bjarki Petursson, and No. 194 Chase Johnson. Gisli Sveinbergsson and Josh Gilkison will round out the lineup for this week. Holt, Johnson, Petursson, and Sveinbergsson received All-MAC First Team honors, and Gilkison was named to the All-MAC Second Team.
The Flashes will be making their 19th trip to the NCAA National Championship and second-straight. Last season, Kent State came up short in advancing to the final-stroke round played to advance to quarterfinals. The Flashes look to top their best finish at the Nationals from 2012, when the Flashes advanced to the quarterfinals of match play. That year, Kent State was the eighth seed and fell to the national runner-up in Alabama. Corey Conners finished fourth as an individual in 2012.
Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament, while the Golf Channel will broadcast live in round four. Be sure to follow @KentStGolf for updates throughout the tournament.
Players Mentioned
