AMARILLO, Texas – Oklahoma City University aims to take its fifth consecutive team crown in the Sooner Athletic Conference men's golf championships Monday and Tuesday at Tascosa Golf Club.
Play starts 9 a.m. Monday, while the teams start 8:30 a.m. Tuesday on the par-71, 6,805-yard La Paloma Course.
The event features three ranked NAIA teams – second-ranked Oklahoma City, No. 3 Texas Wesleyan and 20th-ranked Wayland Baptist (Texas). The tournament also includes Central Christian (Kan.), Mid-America Christian, Panhandle State and Southwestern Christian.
In the 2018 SAC Championships, the Stars became SAC champion for the fourth year in a row and 23rd time overall April 23-24. OCU prevailed by 20 shots over Wayland Baptist at Gaillardia Country Club in Oklahoma City.
Paul Zwanzig from Wayland Baptist returns to defend his individual title. Texas Wesleyan's Rowan Lester earned all-tournament acclaim a year ago.
The SAC Championships will be staged at Tascosa Golf Club for the first time since 2014. Wayland Baptist captured its first SAC title then.
OCU, the defending national champion, opened the season at No. 1 in the top 25 and kept its perch for four consecutive polls. The Stars had been the top-ranked team for nine consecutive rankings dating back to last season until Coastal Georgia ascended to the top spot in the March 22 poll. The Stars completed the regular season with seven victories and two runner-up finishes in 10 events.
Jack Madden paces OCU with a 72.30 stroke average through 27 rounds. Madden, a freshman from Dungannon, Northern Ireland, Ireland, delivered wins in the Ottawa-Arizona Spring Invitational on Jan. 28-29 in Litchfield Park, Ariz., and the San Antonio Shootout on March 4-5 in San Antonio. Madden is a two-time SAC golfer of the week.
Peri'Don Castille, a junior from Dallas, produces 72.89 shots per round with four top-five showings for OCU. Ty Stites has been the Stars' low individual the past two tournaments. Stites, a sophomore from Sallisaw, Okla., owns three top-10 finishes in four starts for Oklahoma City. Stites, the SAC golfer of the week for March 18-24, has supplied OCU with a 73.36 scoring average.
Tascosa Golf Club's La Paloma Course features dramatic elevation changes, natural rock outcroppings, native rough and several lakes. La Paloma is totally unique to the Texas panhandle in its natural beauty and architectural style.
Oklahoma City owns 11 national championships won in 2001, '02, '03, '04, '06, '07, 2010, '12, '13, '16 and 2018.