Boulder City, Nev. - Senior Andrew Bennett (Bossier City, La.) tees off in the 2024 NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships on Tuesday morning at The Legacy Golf Club.
Live Scoring: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=29175
Official NCAA DIII Golf Home Page: https://www.ncaa.com/sports/golf-men/d3
Bennett, who claimed the individual title at last month's Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships in Whitney, Texas, is one of six individuals selected to participate in the championships. Bennett is the first Centenary men's golfer to qualify for the NCAA Championships in the division III era (2013-present). Bennett will tee off at 12:20 p.m. local time on the #10 tee on Tuesday.
The championships will be hosted by UNLV and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and runs through Friday. The team and individual champions will be determined after 72 holes of play or the conclusion of the last fully completed round. Forty-three teams and six individuals not on one of those teams will be selected to participate in the championships. After 36 holes of competition, the field will be cut to the top 18 teams and top six individuals not on one of those teams. Two courses will be used this week - Legacy (par 72, 7,077 yards) and Boulder Creek Golf Club - par 72, 7,377 yards).
"I am excited for Drew to get this opportunity," said Centenary head coach Emlyn Aubrey. "He has always worked very hard on his game and he feels he is finally seeing the results this season."
"He asked me back in February if the team does not make it to nationals, can a player go as an individual if they win the conference championship and enough said- here we are!"
A total of 221 participants will compete at the 2024 championships. Thirty-four conferences were awarded an automatic qualification for the championships. One team was selected from Pool B, which consists of independent institutions and institutions that are members of conferences that do not meet the requirements for automatic qualification. The final eight berths were reserved for Pool C, which are institutions from automatic-qualifying conferences that are not the conference champion and any remaining Pool B teams. The six individuals were selected from the remaining players who have not qualified with a team.
Bennett finished nine shots ahead of Jacob Mason of Trinity University (+5 – 221) at the conference championships last month as he claimed his second-career victory after he won the individual title at the UMHB Men's Invitational this past Fall. He earned First-Team All-SCAC honors last month and was named SCAC Men's Golfer of the Week once this season.
Bennett entered the final round of the conference championships in third place and one shot behind Mason, the 36-hole leader. He fired identical 1-under par 71 rounds in rounds one and two at the par-72, 6,918-yard course. He posted under par scores (71, 71 and 70) in each of his three rounds, becoming just the third player in conference championship history to do so, and his three-day total of 212 is tied for the third-lowest finishing score in conference history. Bennett, who tied for 19th at the conference championships in 2022, now has two individual wins, three top-five finishes, and a top-15 finish this season.
Mason will join Bennett this week in Nevada along with these four golfers listed below:
Gabe Benson, Concordia-Moorhead
Elliot Parker, Drew
James Alden, Guilford
Avery Stansell, Rhodes
Carnegie Mellon is the defending national champion, winning the 2023 team title in Nicholasville, Kentucky. For more information about the NCAA Division III Men's Golf Championships, log on to NCAA.com.
See the Gents' complete season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mgolf/2023-24/schedule
#GoCentenary #CTheOpportunity
