NCAA Regional Championship  
University of Georgia Golf Course | Athens, Ga.  
Monday-Wednesday | May 13-15, 2019 
Par 71 | 7,253 Yards

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The SMU men's golf team makes its 34 trip to the NCAA Tournament, 24 in NCAA regionals since the format began in the 1980s. This is the Mustangs' first appearance at the NCAA tournament since 2015. The Ponies are set to compete in the Athens Regional at the UGA Golf Course hosted by Georgia. The 54-hole regional will begin Monday at 7:30 a.m. ET/8:30 CT. Live results will be posted on Golfstat.com. The Mustangs tee off starting at 8:55 a.m. ET/7:55 CT paired with Memphis and UNC Wilmington.


THE EVENT: The UGA Golf Course is a 7,253-yard track, which will play at par 71. The championship begins with practice rounds on Sunday, followed by an 8 a.m. ET/7 CT start for the first 18 holes on Monday. Tuesday and Wednesday tee times are slated for 7:30 a.m. ET/6:30 CT.
The top five teams and the low individual not those teams will advance to the NCAA Finals on May 24-29 at Blessings Golf Course in Fayetteville, Arkansas. 

THE FIELD: There are 13 teams and 10 individuals competing in the Athens Regional: 
Vanderbilt, Duke, Georgia, Liberty, Alabama, Campbell, Kentucky, Nevada, Memphis, UNC Wilmington and Princeton. SMU's first-round pairing includes American Athletic Conference opponent Memphis and UNC-Wilmington. 

INDIVIDUALS: Roland Massimo (Kansas State), Jacob Eklund (Kansas State), Eduardo Carrette (Jacksonville), Keller Harper (Furman), Jeremy Gandon (Kansas State), Billy Tom Sargent (Western Kentucky), Logan Sowell (College of Charleston), John Gough (Charlotte), Jordan Warnock (University of South Carolina Upstate) and William Halamandaris (Lafayette). 

REPRESENTING SMU:
Mac Meissner
Noah Goodwin
Ben Wong
Jackson Markham
Ollie Osborne
Henrik Olsson (Alternate)

QUICK HITS:

• Sophomore Mac Meissner won his first collegiate tournament as an individual (-13, 66-66-68 - 200) at the American Athletic Conference Championship setting the championship three round record 
• Freshman Ben Wong made it through the first stage of the US Open Quallifying and will compete at Sectionals in June   
• The team's highest Golfstat ranking this season came in at No. 5 after a third place finish at the Royal Oaks Invitational (Feb. 6-7)
• The Ponies won two tournaments the first on Sept. 10 at The Ocean Course Invitational(+1, 577) tied with College of Charleston. The second win was on Oct. 6 at the Maridoe Intercollegiate (+21, 861) finishing 14 strokes ahead of runner up, Texas A&M. 

LAST TIME OUT: PALM HARBOR, Fla. (SMU) - Sophomore Mac Meissner claimed the individual title at the 2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Golf Championship on Tuesday afternoon at the Copperhead Course in Florida. Meissner (66-66-68–200) set a conference record with the lowest round in conference championship history in the first two rounds. He wrapped up the tournament setting the three-round record 13- under finish, breaking the 7-under record set by SMU's Bryson DeChambeau at the inaugural AAC Championship in 2014. The sophomore finished five strokes ahead of Austin Squires of Cincinnati. Meissner claimed the 13th individual conference title for the Mustangs joining the ranks of Payne Stewart and Bryson DeChambeau. SMU led after day one by one stroke but was not able to catch Memphis in the last two rounds. The team was the runner-up (285-289-290–864) finishing twelve strokes behind Memphis who finished even par for the tournament. Trailing the Knights by one in the final few holes, the Mustangs fired away past UCF, finishing one stroke ahead of them. Freshman Ben Wong (73-73-73–219) was consistent carding another 2-over 73 round to finish tied 16th place. Junior Jackson Markham shot 3-over for the day finishing tied for a share of 19th place at 7-over (72-74-74–220). Freshman Ollie Osborne birdied one hole in the front nine and one in the back nine for a 4-over 75 finish on the round. Osborne finishing 12-over for the tournament, tied for 32nd place. Redshirt freshman Justin Thompson played the first two rounds and junior Henrik Olsson replaced Thompson on the final day to round out the squad.
 
IN THE RANKINGS: SMU ranked 60th in the final season rankings on Golfstat. Two Mustangs rank in the top 100 individually: No. 26 Noah Goodwin and No. 70 Mac Meissner. The highest ranking this season for
the Mustangs came in at No. 5 after a third place finish at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate. The team held on to a No. 6 ranking until the Tiger Invitational in March where they finished second behind then No. 10 Auburn. 

SEASON IN REVIEW: The SMU men's golf team had two tournament wins at the Invitational at the Ocean Course and the Maridoe Intercollegiate. The Mustangs also picked up two match play wins against Army and Nevada. The team had two second place finishes in their home event the Trinity Forest Invitational and at the Tiger Invitational.  An injury and an incorrect scorecard at The Goodwin, resulting in a team disqualification and a last place finish, led to the 35-spot plummet of the team's ranking on Golfstat after being in the top 20 all season.

AAC ACCOLADES: Sophomore Mac Meissner was named the American Athletic Conference Player of the Year after winning the individual title at the conference championship and had a unanimous selection to the All-Conference Team. He was joined by fellow Mustang sophomore Noah Goodwin on the All-Conference Team. Meissner earned November's Golfer of the Month posting a second place overall finish at the Maridoe Intercollegiate and a top ten finish at the Royal Oaks Intercollegiate. He earned his second accolade as Player of the Week (2/27) after a third place finish at the Tiger Invitational. Goodwin also earned Player of the Week (3/20) after posting back to back top ten finishes at the Tiger Invitational and the Bandon Dunes Championship. 

SMU AT NCAA: The Mustangs have made 19 NCAA Finals appearances, advancing from regionals eight times. The Mustangs won the national championship in1954 with the team made up of Floyd Addington, Stewart Carrell, Tom Towry and Bryan Honts. The last time SMU made an appearance at the finals in 2015, Bryson DeChambeau claimed the individual title in posting an 8-under, 280 score. SMU has eight top-ten finishes when competing at the NCAA Finals. 

PLAYERS ON THE WATCHLIST: Mac Meissner and Ben Wong were named to the Arnold Palmer Watchlist in the fall, with Meissner making an appearance in the spring one as well. Meissner was also on the Haskins Award Watchlist in the fall ans was joined by fellow Mustang Noah Goodwin in the spring. 


WELCOME TO THE HILLTOP: SMU head coach Jason Enloe has announced the addition of Dawson Ovard who has signed a National Letter of Intent to join the Mustangs for the 2019-20 season.
Ovard makes his way to t he Hilltop from Frisco, Texas, just north of Dallas. Ovard has eight top-5 AJGA finishes and a win at the 2016 Scott Robertson Memorial. His 8-under, 64 round at the Junior PGA Championship in 2017 set the record for the lowest-ever first round in Championship history. He also has three career top-10 finishes at the Future Masters and has been named to the Jimmy Walker Challenge and ACDS 2017 Junior All-Star Teams. 

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).

TRINITY FOREST: HOME OF SMU GOLF: Opened in the fall of 2016, Trinity Forest Golf Club became the new home course for SMU Golf. Trinity Forest resembles 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. Trinity Forest is the home of the PGA TOUR's AT&T Byron Nelson Championship.
The team of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw – Coore & Crenshaw, Inc. – built both the championship golf course as well as the short course. The design of Trinity Forest honors 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 consists of an 18-hole championship golf course, a world-class practice facility, a clubhouse, the Payne Stewart Training Center (practice academy for SMU's golf teams) and a teaching center for The First Tee of Greater Dallas.