INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- For the first time since 2015 the SCAC will have two men’s teams competing for the national championship as conference champion University of St. Thomas and Trinity University were among the 42 teams selected for the 2023 NCAA Division III Men’s Golf Championship.
St. Thomas is headed to the national championship for the first time in program history after securing one of the 34 automatic qualifying berths into the field. Last month, the Celts battled a strong SCAC field and surged to a seven-stroke victory to obtain the first AQ berth the league has had since 2013.
The Celts finished in the top-four at four of their six competitions this year, highlighted by top finishes at the Linda Lowery Invitational and the SCAC Championship. Individually, St. Thomas is led by senior Cade Kiser who is currently ranked 29th in the most recent Golfstat rankings. Kiser has an impressive 5-4 record against top-50 competitors and holds a 72.76 adjusted scoring average.
Trinity returns to the national championship for the second time in the last three years, finishing tied for 11th at the 2021 Championship. The Tigers, currently ranked 15th in the country in the most recent Golfstat.com rankings earned one of the eight Pool B bids into the national tournament. Trinity finished in the top three at six different events this year, highlighted by four top finishes, most recently winning the West Region Invitational last month. Individually, Trinity is led by senior Daniel Nunez who is currently ranked 21st in the most recent Golfstat rankings. Nunez is 6-2 against top-50 competitors and takes an adjusted scoring average of 72.73 into the national championship.
Additionally, two SCAC individuals have been selected by NCAA Div. III Men’s Golf Committee to participate at this year’s prestigious event.
Schreiner senior Zhao Yung Gu and Southwestern senior Christian Rodriguez will both vie for an individual national title as the SCAC has now earned five of the 12 individual invitations extended by the committee over the last two years.
Yung Gu, the 2023 SCAC Champion, is currently the 24th ranked player in the country with a 72.72 adjusted scoring average. He has amassed an impressive 23-5 record against other opponents ranked in the top 100 this year.
Southwestern’s Rodriguez is the 34th-ranked NCAA Div. III player overall per Golfstat.com’s metrics and is headed back to the National Championship for the second consecutive year. Rodriguez is 40-29 against top-100 competition this year. Dating back to 2013, Southwestern has been represented as a team or an individual in eight of the last 10 national championships.
The championships, which will be held May 16-19 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-three 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 221 participants will compete at the 2023 championship. Thirty-four conferences were awarded an automatic qualification for the championships. One team was 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 eight 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.
Methodist University is the defending national champion after completing the four-round tournament with a total score of 20-over (1,168).
To see the complete field for the competition, click here.
