State golfers to fifth straight NCAA regional appearance
Credit: Mississippi State Athletics
Mississippi State’s men’s golf program earned its 14th NCAA Championships berth as the field of 81 teams was announced Wednesday, May 3.
It is the Bulldogs’ fifth straight NCAA selection. State will compete in the Morgan Hill Regional hosted by San Jose State as the No. 3 seed on May 15-17. The Bulldogs will play at The Institute Golf Club located in Morgan Hill, California.
“I am proud of this team and what they have accomplished this year,” head coach Dusty Smith said. “They played some very consistent golf all year and have done a great job taking the right and necessary steps to get to this part in our journey. We have a lot of work ahead of us in our preparation for this regional, and we know we need to be at our best to be successful.
The Morgan Hill Regional includes the following teams (by seed):
- Pepperdine
- Florida State
- Mississippi State
- Arizona
- Louisville
- Baylor
- Missouri
- BYU
- NC State
- California
- Charlotte
- Grand Canyon
- Northern Colorado
The top five teams (30 teams total) and the low individual not on an advancing team (six individuals total) from each regional site will advance to play in the NCAA Championships at Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Arizona on May 26-31.
In 2022-23, the Bulldogs advanced to match play at the SEC Tournament for the second-straight year. State won two team tournaments and finished in the top five in eight of its 10 events. Austin Vukovits and Ruan Pretorius both collected individual wins as well.
Excluding the 2020 tournament which was not played due to COVID-19, Smith has led the Bulldogs to an NCAA appearance every year since joining the Maroon and White staff in the fall of 2017. Prior to Smith’s arrival, State had never gone to three straight NCAA Regionals.
