Blue Raiders head back to Mossy Oak Collegiate

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee men's golf makes its return to Mississippi State's Mossy Oak Collegiate this week. This is the fourth time in the last five years the Bulldogs' event has appeared on the Blue Raiders' schedule.

MTSU is coming off a third-place finish at the Schenkel Invitational, led by Michael Barnard's third-place finish. MTSU finished behind only No. 19 Georgia Southern and No. 24 Mississippi State. Barnard carded a 210 (-6) on the way to the Conference USA Player of the Week award. It was Barnard's highest finish of the year and his second career C-USA Player of the Week award.

WEATHER FORECAST
The forecast for the tournament shows cloudy conditions both days with scattered thunderstorms on Monday.

NOTES

The Blue Raiders enter the tournament ranked No. 66 in the Golfweek Collegiate Team Rankings and No. 63 in the most recent Golfstat rankings.
Owen Stamper is ranked No. 75 in the country in the most recent Golfweek rankings and No. 96 by Golfstat.
Stamper's 205 (-11) at the Lake Las Vegas Invitational was a new career low. As of March 14, he is the No. 62 player in Division I according to Golfweek and No. 85 per Golfstat.
Stamper leads the Blue Raiders with a scoring average of 70.7.
Barnard, Stamper and Markus Varjun have combined for six Conference USA Player of the Week awards, the most in a season since MTSU joined the league.
Kevin Jegers recorded individual victories in back-to-back tournaments in 2021-22, each time setting the program 54-hole record.
MTSU returns three of its four players who played in 30 rounds or more in '21-22, including Barnard, Jegers, and Owen Stamper.
The four newcomers to the '22-23 roster include Power 5 transfers Drew Miller (Ole Miss) and Tate Heintzelman (Indiana), and true freshman Sheldon McKnight and Luke Perkins.
Also joining the Blue Raider program are former letterman Payne Denman, who returns as an assistant coach, and former MTSU tennis player Chris Edge, who will serve as a graduate assistant.

COACH'S COMMENTS: MARK MCENTIRE
"Our team is very excited to play this week at Mossy Oak. This is a postseason field and will be a great test for us! The players love the golf course and look to continue on the momentum from the Schenkel!"

LINEUP
1. Owen Stamper
2. Michael Barnard
3. Gavin Clements
4. Kevin Jegers
5. Markus Varjun

TOURNAMENT INFO

	Mossy Oak Collegiate
Dates	Monday, April 3 - Tuesday, April 4
Course	Mossy Oak Golf Club West Point, Miss. Par 72, 7,212 yards
Format	36 holes Monday, 18 holes Tuesday
Teams (18)	Abilene Christian, Alabama, Auburn, Cincinnati, Kansas State, Lamar, Liberty, LSU, Louisiana, LA Tech, Memphis, Middle Tennessee, Mississippi State, Ole Miss, Southern Miss, Tennessee, Troy, UAB
Live Scoring	Golfstat

Middle Tennesee State University Athletics

Players Mentioned

Michael Barnard

Gavin Clements

Tate Heintzelman

Kevin Jegers

Sheldon McKnight

Luke Perkins

Owen Stamper

Markus Varjun

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