The University of Akron Athletics
Men's Golf Rides Momentum into MAC Championships
April 28 | Men's Golf
AKRON, Ohio -
The University of Akron men's golf team looks to ride the momentum of their victory at the Illini Spring Classic 11 days ago when it heads to Maineville, Ohio, for the 2011 Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championships on April 29-May 1 at the par-72, 7,180-yard TPC River's Bend Golf Club.
Following their 10-stroke win, the Zips look to capture their first MAC title and the first conference crown since Akron captured the 1961 Ohio Athletic Conference championship. The winner this weekend will earn the league's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Regional Tournament.
The format for the weekend will include four rounds, with two rounds played on Friday, one round on Saturday and one round on Sunday.
The Zips, ranked 91st in this week's Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, will face off against the best in the conference, including Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, No. 34 Kent State, Miami (Ohio), Northern Illinois, Ohio and Toledo.
Traveling to this year's event will be senior Lucas Murray, junior Scott Landreth, sophomore Cameron Simmons, redshirt sophomore Tim Lew and freshman Charlie Bull.
Murray, Landreth and Simmons will be making a return trip to the league tournament after helping the Zips to a third-place showing last season, with Landreth appearing in his third MAC Championship event. Last year's finish was the second-highest MAC finish in program history, behind Akron's second-place finish in 2007. Murray led the way for the Zips with a top-10 placing, closing out the weekend tied for ninth place with a four-round score of 9-over 297.
Akron enters the weekend as one of the hottest teams in the conference following their victory at the Illini Spring Classic. The Zips defeated nine Big Ten and seven teams in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings to earn the third team title under fourth-year head coach Nick Goetze and the 27th victory in program history. Bull, Simmons and Landreth finished the event tied for third place while Murray and Lew were tied for 18th.
Players will tee of on Friday morning from the No. 1 and No. 10 tees beginning at 8 a.m. ET, with the second round to follow the first round at 1 p.m. ET. Tee times for round two will follow the same format. Players will tee off from the first tee box on Saturday and Sunday beginning at 1 p.m. ET. Golfstat live scoring will be available at GoZips.com.
