INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference will be represented by Southwestern University along with individual qualifier, senior Colin Uecker of Texas Lutheran, at this year's NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championship this year.
Southwestern, ranked seventh in the most recent Golf Coaches Association of America Div. III Top-25 poll and first in the West Region, is headed to the NCAA tournament for the sixth time in the last seven year after the Pirates secured one of the three available Pool B spots.
The Pirates finished in the top-five at nine of their 10 competitions this year, highlighted by top finishes at the John Bohmann Invitational, the Abilene Invitational and the West Region Invitational.
Southwestern is led by junior Cade Osgood, who is currently ranked 15th nationally in the Golfstat.com individual player rankings for NCAA Division III, carries an adjusted scoring average of 72.69. As a team, the Pirates have three players ranked in the top-35 in the country based on those same rankings, as senior Matthew Christl (28th) and Sutherland Stith (32nd) join Osgood.
Southwestern is poised to post its best finish at nationals since the Pirates checked in at 11th in 2014.
Uecker is the second Bulldog in program history to receive an individual invitation to the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships. Adam Peterson played in the 2015 NCAA Championships and finished eighth overall.
In 2019, Uecker has won five tournaments, including the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championship. He has eight career collegiate victories.
Uecker, who currently ranks 10th nationally in the Golfstat.com individual player rankings for NCAA Division III, has an adjusted scoring average of 71.79. He is fourth in the NCAA DIII for par-4 scoring, at 4.02, and he is seventh in DIII in par-5 scoring, at 4.69.
The championships, which will be held May 14-17 at Keene Trace Golf Club, in Nicholasville, Kentucky, will be hosted by Transylvania University. The team and individual champions will be determined after 72 holes of play or the conclusion of the last fully completed round. Forty-two teams and six individuals not on one of those teams will be selected to participate in the championships. After 36 holes of competition, the field will be cut to the top 18 teams and top six individuals not on one of those teams.
A total of 216 participants will compete at the 2019 championships. Thirty-two conferences were awarded an automatic qualification for the championships. Three teams were selected from Pool B, which consists of independent institutions and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification. The final seven berths were reserved for Pool C, which are institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champion and any remaining Pool B teams. The six individuals are selected from the remaining players who have not qualified with a team.
To see the complete field for the competition, click here.