Men's Golf | 5/3/2021 2:13:00 PM
The Utica College men's golf team has officially secured the program's first appearance at the NCAA Division III men's golf championships. The 2021 NCAA Championships will be held at the Oglebay Resort and Conference Center in Wheeling, West Virginia from Tuesday, May 11, to Friday, May 14. The event will be held on the Resort's Jones and Palmer Golf Courses.
The Jones course is 7,000 yards from the Championship tees and hosted an LPGA tournament for over a decade. The Palmer course is a 6,800 yard, Par 71 layout. The tournament hosts are Bethany College and the Presidents' Athletic Conference.
The tournament will be a 72 hole championship, with a 36 hole cut in effect. The teams will play one 18 hole round per day, and will play one round on each tournament course before the cut is made. The top 18 teams, and top six individual qualifiers not on the top 18 teams, will advance to the final 36 holes of play over the final two days. There will be two practice rounds held ahead of the championship on Sunday and Monday.
Utica locks up a spot as an automatic tournament qualifier after winning the 2021 Empire 8 Men's Golf Championship held in Baldwinsville, NY. Utica claimed top honors with a combined score of 634 strokes over the 36 hole event. The Pioneers were just 38 strokes over par. They snapped a decade-long string of spring men's golf titles by conference rival St. John Fisher.
Josh Kienz led the team that day with the first individual championship of his career as a two-round total of 151 took home medalist honors. Joe Miga finished fifth, while program newcomers Nick Visconti and Adam Woodmansee placed eighth and ninth. Brandon Young was sixteenth, while Brett Everson placed 28th in the conference championship tournament.
Kienz was named the E8's Golfer of the Year, while coaches
Dave Clausen,
Brian Marcantonio, and
Patrick Coughlin were named the E8 Coaching Staff of the Year. The Pioneers locked up five All-Conference selections.