Kats draw Norman for NCAA Regional
5/2/2018 7:55:00 PM | Men's Golf
HUNTSVILLE – The NCAA Division I Men's Golf championship field was announced on Wednesday afternoon with the Sam Houston State Bearkats being sent to Norman, Okla. for the regional tournament.
The 54-hole tournament will be conducted May 14-16 at the Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club on the University of Oklahoma campus. It is one of six regional destinations as a precursor to the NCAA Championships, which will also be held in Oklahoma at Karsten Creek in Stillwater.
“Well, we are excited. It's the kind of golf we play,” Bearkat head coach Brandt Kieschnick said after the selection show. “It's going to be windy and we are used to Bermuda. I was able to play there in college, so I feel like I know the course a little bit. But we would've played anywhere. We're ready to go compete and we're ready to have a chance to win.”
The Bearkats are the No. 11 seed in the regional, a 14-team pool that also includes five individual medalists. The Sooners come in as the top seed in the regional, along with No. 2 Auburn, No. 3 Arkansas and No. 4 Florida State.
Also in the field (in seeded order) are North Florida, Pepperdine, BYU, Virginia, San Diego State, Nevada, UMKC, Navy and Prairie View.
“We see these guys all year. These are some great teams and we embrace that competition,” Kieschnick said. “We like to play against the best and we want to beat the best. Our guys want that and definitely respect the teams, but they know our good golf is as good as any.”
The week will include 18 holes each day with the low five teams and the low individual not on those teams advancing to the NCAA Championships.
“Our first thought was the wind, and we like wind,” Kieschnick said. “We think wind can separate and we like difficult, and it's something we are used to. We play it in Texas, we played in it at conference. And we seem to play well in the wind each time we play.”
Sam Houston earned its way into the field with a win at the Southland Conference Tournament at Stonebridge in McKinney and will be making their third appearance in the NCAA Tournament. The previous appearances came in 2014 (Auburn, Ala.) and 2015 (Bremerton, Wash.).
“We met today and we are not going to make anything complex. We do the same things every day. We are back to the grind and did drills today and competed yesterday. So, we're not going to make this bigger than it is. We're just going to do the same stuff and get better at it. We've had a chance to win our last four tournaments and won two of them, and we have another chance here.”
