May 3, 2016

COLUMBIA, S.C. — The University of South Carolina Men’s Golf team will learn its postseason destination when the NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Regional Selection Show is held Thursday, May 5 at 9:30 a.m. ET. The Selection Show will air live on Golf Channel during the network’s Morning Drive program.

The field for the 2016 NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Championships will consist of 81 qualifying schools, which includes 31 conference automatic qualifiers, 50 teams selected at-large and 45 individuals not on those teams. Six 54-hole regional tournaments will be conducted May 16-18. Thirteen teams and 10 individuals not on those teams will compete at each of three regionals while the other three regionals will have 14 teams and five individuals not on those teams. The low five teams and the low individual not on those teams from each regional will advance to the finals to be played May 27 to June 1 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Ore.

The six regional championship sites include Ol’ Colony Golf Complex in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, hosted by the University of Alabama; Gallery Golf Club, in Marana, Arizona, hosted by the University of Arizona; Blackwolf Run Meadow Valleys Course in Kohler, Wisconsin, hosted by Marquette University; Championship Course at University of New Mexico in Albuquerque, New Mexico, hosted by the University of New Mexico; Karsten Creek Golf Club in Stillwater, Oklahoma, hosted by Oklahoma State University; and Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tennessee, hosted by Vanderbilt University.

Ranked 17th in the latest Golfstat national standings, the Gamecocks will make their 24th NCAA Regional appearance and their 20th in the last 21 seasons when the NCAA announces the field of 81 qualifying teams.

The Gamecocks have advanced out of their Regional and into the NCAA Championship in each of the last three seasons. Carolina tied for second in 2013 in Columbus, Ohio, finished fifth in 2014 in Eugene, Ore., and placed second last season as the top seed in Bremerton, Wash. Overall, the Gamecocks have qualified for the NCAA Championship four times under head coach Bill McDonald.

South Carolina’s best Regional finish came in 2007, when it won the West Regional in Tempe, Ariz. The Gamecocks scored a three-round total of 820 (-44) to edge UCLA by two strokes.

Individually, Gamecock alumnus Kyle Thompson won a pair of medalist titles at NCAA Regionals. He was the top finisher at the 1999 East Regional in Barrington, R.I., and the 2001 West Regional in Corvallis, Ore.

The Gamecock lineup will feature seniors Sean Kelly, Matt NeSmith and Will Starke along with sophomore Keenan Huskey and freshman Scott Stevens. NeSmith and Huskey have each captured two medalist honors this season, and as a team the Gamecocks have won four tournaments.