Men's golf picked fifth in pre-Championships poll

April 25, 2012

By John Lock
SIUSalukis.com

ST. LOUIS - The Southern Illinois men's golf team was picked fifth in the annual pre-Missouri Vally Conference Championship poll, the conference announced Wednesday. Southern finished with 45 points, eight behind fourth-place Evansville and six ahead of sixth-place Northern Iowa.

"Everyone is starting to play well at the right time of the season," head coach Leroy Newton said. "If we can put three solid rounds together, we feel good about where we'll end up."

The 2012 State Farm MVC Championship will be played Monday-Tuesday, April 30-May 1, at Prairie Dunes Country Club in Hutchinson, Kan. Teams will play 36 holes on Monday and conclude with 18 holes on Tuesday.

Last year, the Salukis finished eighth in the conference, breaking a string of seven-straight top-four finishes. This year, the Salukis are one of three teams in the conference with a team tournament win. Jake Erickson is one of four golfers in the conference with multiple first-place finishes individually.

GolfStat has Southern ranked fourth in the conference and third in adjusted scoring average. Erickson is ranked eighth in the conference, and Brandon Cauldwell is ranked 13th. Joe Goelzhauser is ranked 19th. Erickson's season scoring average, 73.6, currently ranks fourth-best in school history.

Wichita has dominated MVC golf for more than a decade, finishing with 10 MVC titles and five second-place finishes in the last 15 years. The conference's top five in stroke average are all Wichita State Shockers. Missouri State was the unanimous No. 2 choice in the conference.

Prairie Dunes Country Club was designed by Perry Maxwell and opened in 1937. In the vision of the Carey family and Perry Maxwell, Prairie Dunes has become a renowned course and has played home to several major events including: U.S Women's Amateur, Curtis Cup Match, U.S. Mid- Amateur, U.S. Women's Open and also hosted the 2006 U.S. Senior Open. Prairie Dunes was honored in 2005 by Golf Digest as being one of America's greatest golf courses.

Live scoring for the MVC Championships can be found here.

2012 State Farm MVC pre-Championship Poll
Team (First-place votes) - Points
1.) Wichita State (9) - 81
2.) Missouri Stafte - 72
3.) Illinois State - 56
4.) Evansville - 53
5.) Southern Illinois - 45
6.) Northern Iowa - 39
7.) Creighton - 29
8.) Drake - 17
9.) Bradley - 13