INDIANAPOLIS — No. 24 men’s golf was selected to compete in the NCAA Athens Regional as a No. 4 seed at University of Georgia Golf Course from May 18-20, the NCAA announced on Wednesday afternoon.
“Based on our play this season, I feel like the 4th seed at the Athens Regional is fairly accurate,” director of golf Todd Miller said. “From a competition standpoint, if I could choose any regional, it would be the one we were selected to. If you’re going to win the national championship, you’ve got to go see how you stack up against the best team in the country, and we get to do it against Auburn. If the guys can play some great golf, I think we can hang with those teams which would build our confidence.”
The Athens Regional is one of six 54-hole regionals that will determine who will move on to the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championship at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California, from May 29-June 3. The top-5 teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance. This will be the Cougars’ 28th regional appearance since the format was introduced in 1989. BYU has advanced to the National Championship 33 times in program history.
The 13-team playing field alongside BYU will consist of No. 1 Auburn, No. 12 Illinois, No. 13 Vanderbilt, host Georgia, Louisville, Kansas, Northwestern, Charleston, Rice, Southern Miss, Harvard and Howard.
UGA Golf Course, Georgia’s home course, is a 7,258-yard, par 71 course with a 75.1 rating.
“Pumped for Georgia,” Simon Kwon said. “We are defending regional champs, so we need to go in with that mentality that we are going to win a regional. We have the opportunity to beat the best team in the country, and we are going to do everything we can do to prepare for this opportunity. We are one of the best teams in the country, and we are going to prove it to everyone else.”