The [RV]/No. 42 SMU men's golf team travels to Independence, Minn., to compete in the 12th annual Gopher Invitational. The Minnesota-hosted tournament will be played at Windsong Farm Golf Club and runs Sept. 10-11. Along with the team tournament, for the first time, the Gopher Invitational will be accompanied by an individual tournament. The Gopher Individual will take place down the road from Windsong at Pioneer Creek Golf Course in Maple Plain, Minn.

THE EVENT: The Windsong Farm Golf Club is a 7,152-yard track, which will play at par 71. Pioneer Creek Golf Course is a 6,953-yard track and will play as a par 72. Both tournaments will feature 36 holes on Saturday and 18 holes on Sunday. Round one individual tee times will start at 7:15 a.m., with round one team tee times starting at 7:30 a.m. Round two play will be continuous, with an estimated start time of 12:20 p.m. Round three for both will begin at 7:30 a.m. Sunday.

THE FIELD: The 14-team field at the Gopher Invitational features: Arkansas, California, Charlotte, Iowa, Kent State, Michigan State, Minnesota (host), New Mexico, Oklahoma, Pepperdine, San Diego State, SMU, St. John's (Minn.) and Washington. Additional teams with entries in the Gopher Individual are Concordia St. Paul and St. Thomas.
Arkansas, California and Oklahoma played in the NCAA Championships last season. Seven other teams in the Invitational field qualified for NCAA Regionals. Five of the teams finished first or second at their conference tournaments.

REPRESENTING SMU:
Gray Townsend, Jr.
Andrew Buchanan, Sr.
Daniel Connolly, Fr.
Jackson Markham, Fr.
Alex Higgs, Sr.
Dillon Baxter, Fr. -- Individual

ABOUT SMU: SMU is receiving votes in the Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll and is ranked No. 42 by Golfweek to open the season. The Mustangs finished top 10 in eight of nine tournaments and top five in four events, including two victories. SMU closed out the fall with its first victory at the Erin Hills Intercollegiate, before opening the spring season with a win at the Farms Collegiate Invitational. SMU returns three letterwinners and three redshirts in 2016, while adding three freshmen. Junior Alex Higgs is the Mustangs' top returning Gopher Invite finisher, tying for 10th at last year's tournament.

SCOUTING REPORT: The field at the Gopher Invitational will feature three top-25 teams and five teams receiving votes in the Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll. Nine of the 14 teams are ranked in the top-50 in the Golfweek/Sagarin poll. Arkansas, California and Oklahoma, who all played in the NCAA Championships last season, crack the top-25 in both polls ranking 20/20, T11/15 and 10/17, respectively. San Diego State, Washington, New Mexico, Pepperdine and SMU are all receiving votes and are ranked 23, 24, 31, 41 and 42 by Golfweek, respectively. Michigan State is the final top 50 team coming in at No. 46.

THE POLLS ARE IN: The Mustangs are currently receiving votes in the Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll, and ranked at No. 42 by Golfweek/Sagarin.

BAXTER, BUCHANAN WIN U.S. AMATUER FOUR-BALL TITLE: SMU teammates Ben Baxter and Andrew Buchanan won the U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship on May 25 after topping Brandon Cigna and Ben Warnquist, 3-and-2, at the Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, N.Y. All square through 11 in the championship match, Baxter gave the SMU duo its first lead, draining a par putt on the 12th to win the hole. The Mustangs capitalized on a missed putt by Warnquist on the 14th to take a 2-up advantage, before stretching the lead to three with a win on 15. On the 16th hole, Buchanan lagged a birdie putt within two feet of the pin, resulting in a victory conceding par.

SMU U.S. AMATEUR SUCCESS: Since 1998, four Mustangs have won the U.S. Amateur, more than any collegiate program during that span. DeChambeau is the fourth joining the class consisted of Kelly Kraft (2011), Colt Knost (2007) and Hank Kuehne (1998).

SMU EARNS GCAA ALL-ACADEMIC AWARD: The SMU men's golf team was named a 2016 All-Academic team, as selected by the Golf Coaches Association of America. SMU, which recorded a 3.37 team GPA, is one of 113 Division I teams to earn the honor.

REMEMBERING PAYNE STEWART: October 25, 2016 marks the 17-year anniversary of the tragic passing of one of SMU's most prominent athletes and one of golf's most charismatic figures, Payne Stewart. The two-time U.S. Open Champion was named as an inductee of the 2015 PGA of America Hall of Fame on Oct. 15.

TRINITY FOREST: NEW HOME OF SMU GOLF: Scheduled to open in the fall of 2016, Trinity Forest Golf Club will become the new home course for SMU Golf. Trinity Forest will resemble many of the great old courses of the Northeast and Great Britain, featuring a links style course on a rolling meadow with tall native grasses and dramatic bunkering and green complexes. Once complete, Trinity Forest will become the new home of the PGA TOUR's AT&T Byron Nelson Championship as well as an NCAA invitational tournament and additional high-profile professional and amateur events.
The team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw – Coore & Crenshaw, Inc. – is building both the championship golf course as well as the short course. The design of Trinity Forest will honor classic golf courses with traditional, strategic golf and great artistry as the guiding philosophy.
Located in the 6,000 acre Great Trinity Forest near the Trinity River Audubon Center about 10 minutes south of downtown Dallas, the 400 acre site will ultimately consist of an 18-hole championship golf course, a world-class practice facility, a clubhouse, a practice academy for SMU's golf teams, a teaching center for The First Tee of Greater Dallas.

--SMUMustangs.com--