TOLEDO, Ohio. --- The No. 25 Chattanooga men's golf team heads north to Toledo, Ohio for its first appearance in the NCAA Men's Golf Championship finals.  Famed Inverness Club is the host site as 7,255 yards at par 71 await the 30 teams and six individuals in this year's championship which starts on Tuesday May 26 and ends Saturday May 30.

Chattanooga is one of just 15 schools to have both the men's and women's golf team in the NCAA Finals.  The Lady Mocs finished 21st in last week's women's championship.  The Mocs are joined by No. 7 Alabama, Arizona, No. 13 Arizona State, No. 14 UCLA, Duke, No. 1 Georgia, Ohio State, No. 2 Oklahoma State, No. 3 Southern California, No. 12 Tennessee, No. 24 Texas, No. 20 TCU, Virginia and Wake Forest.

The Mocs qualified for the field by coming in third as the No. 5 seed out of the South Central Regional played at Oklahoma State's Karsten Creek Golf Club.  UTC finished behind No. 2 Oklahoma State and No. 10 Arkansas and ahead of No. 20 TCU and Northwestern as the five schools coming out of the regional.  No. 18 LSU was the three seed and the only one of the top five to fail to advance finishing just three shots behind the surprising Northwestern squad.

Chattanooga is currently ranked No. 25 in the Golfstat rankings and No. 27 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings Index.  It is facing a strong field as 20 of the top 25 teams in the country are in the finals.  Only No. 5 Clemson, No. 18 Indiana, No. 19 N.C. State, No. 22 San Diego State and No. 23 LSU are missing.

“There is no magic formula,” said Head Coach Mark Guhne.  “Inverness is a place where you have to play smart and not allow the big score.  Our length is a big advantage, but you have to be in the fairway to score.  It will be a long and fast golf course.”

The Mocs open the tournament Tuesday morning on the 10th tee playing with No. 24 Texas and Arizona at 7:20 a.m.  The projected lineup is Ben Rickett leading off followed by Derek Rende, Stephan Jaeger, Jonathan Hodge and Fredrik Qvicker.

WHO:  Ben Rickett.  Rickett played well in the fall PING/Golfweek Preview at Inverness finishing tied for eighth with a one-under par score of 212.  He shot round of 71, 73 and 68.

WHAT:  NCAA Men's Golf Championship

WHEN:  Tuesday-Saturday, May 26-30 (54 holes Stroke Play ? Three Rounds of Match Play)

WHERE:  Inverness Club; Toledo, Ohio ? Par 71 (35-36), 7,255 Yards, Opened 1903.  Inverness has hosted four U.S. Opens, two PGA Championships one U.S. Amateur and one U.S. Senior Open as well as the 1944 NCAA Championship.  Designed by Donald Ross in 1916 with an update by Tom Fazio in 1978 and lengthen by Arthur Hills in 1999.

HOW:  30 teams and six individuals will play 54 holes of stroke play Tuesday through Thursday crowning an individual champion.  The top eight teams advance to Match Play playing the quarter and semifinals on Friday before closing with the Championship Match on Saturday.

LINEUP (Scoring Avg.):  Ben Rickett (72.88), Derek Rende (72.97), Stephan Jaeger (73.09), Fredrik Qvicker (74.03), Jonathan Hodge (74.29).

HOLE-BY-HOLE LIVE SCORING link can be found on GoMocs.com.

WEATHER FORECAST