WARREN, Ohio – Twenty of the nation’s top teams and eight standout individuals will take the course this week at Avalon Golf & Country Club in Warren, Ohio, as the Mountain East Conference and Avalon Lakes at the Grand Resort host the 2023 NCAA Division II Men’s Golf Championships from May 22-26.
The championship event will begin on Monday at 7:30 a.m. as each competing team and the individual qualifiers will play three rounds of stroke play on the par-72, 7,287-yard course at Avalon Lakes. Following Wednesday’s third round, the championship field will be cut to eight teams for the medal-match play rounds. The quarterfinals will be played on Thursday morning, with the semifinals following on Thursday afternoon as the field will be cut to four.
The team national champion will be crowned on Friday morning with the championship round beginning at 9 a.m.
The NCAA individual national champion will be crowned on Wednesday evening following the third round of stroke play.
In 2022 at TPC of Michigan, Lee won the NCAA Division II national championship with a 4-1 win over Oklahoma Christian in the national championship match.
Seven teams that competed at the 2022 national championship return to the 2023 field at Avalon Lakes, including four that advanced to the medal rounds. Lee University, the 2022 Division II Men’s Golf National Champions, will travel to Warren, Ohio this week to defend their crown along with national finalist Oklahoma Christian, national semifinalist Georgia Southwestern and national quarterfinalist Barry.
Lee defeated Barry in the quarterfinals, Georgia Southwestern in the semifinals and Oklahoma Christian in the final on its way to the 2022 title.
North Georgia, Grand Valley State and Davis & Elkins also return to the national championship field this spring.
Following the Atlantic/East Regional in Lebanon, Pennsylvania, three teams advanced to the national championship, including regional champion Davis & Elkins, Fayetteville State and Indiana (Pa.). IUP has the shortest trip of any team at the national championships with its campus residing just 116 miles away. Davis & Elkins is just 236 miles south of Warren, Ohio. The qualifying individuals from the region include Donte Groppuso from St. Thomas Aquinas and Tyler Birdd from Le Moyne.
The Central/Midwest Region earned six team berths in 2023, led by regional champion Grand Valley State. Missouri S&T, Maryville, Washburn, Harding and Southern Arkansas will also compete at Avalon Lakes this week. The qualifying individuals from the region include Ethan Wilkins from Henderson State and Donnie Professori from nearby Findlay University (191 miles).
The South/Southeast Regional field also sent six teams to the national championship, including defending national champion Lee University and 2022 national semifinalist Georgia Southwesten. However, those two teams finished fifth and sixth, respectively, on the regional leaderboard in Davie, Florida two weeks ago. West Florida won the regional championship in 2023, followed by Barry, Nova Southeastern and North Georgia. Andrew Riley from Palm Beach Atlantic and Jose Ramirez from Lynn earned the individual spots in the South/Southeast region.
The South/Southeast is the only regional site with multiple returning team qualifiers in 2023 (Lee, Georgia Southwestern, Barry and North Georgia).
The final five team qualifiers come from the South Central and West Regional, which was played in Rohnert Park, California. Regional championship Sonoma State will be joined by Western Washington, Chico State, Simon Fraser and 2022 national runner-up Oklahoma Christian. The region’s individual qualifiers include Mauricio Figueroa from Texas A&M International and Liam Duncan from Colorado State-Pueblo.