MADISON, Miss. (4/20/25) – The Arkansas State men’s golf team will tee off Monday in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Golf Championships at Annandale Golf Club in Madison, Miss.

The par-72, 7,157-yard course will play host to the Sun Belt Conference Championship for the third consecutive season. Opened in 1981, Annandale Golf Club was designed by Jack Nicklaus. It has played host to numerous championship events, including serving as home of the PGA Tour Sanderson Farms Championship from 1994 to 2013.

The championship will begin with three rounds of stroke play starting Monday. The teams will tee off from split tees beginning at 8:30 a.m., with six teams teeing off No. 1 and eight teams teeing off No. 10.

The top four teams from the 54-hole stroke play event will advance to match play on Thursday, April 24. The semifinal matches will begin at 7:30 a.m. with the No. 1 and No. 4 seed on No. 1 and the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds on No. 10. The championship match will follow the conclusion of the semifinal matches on Thursday. All three rounds of stroke play, along with Thursday’s semifinal and championship matches, will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Live scoring is available through Scoreboard by Clippd.

For the ninth consecutive season, A-State is a top four seed entering the championship. The Red Wolves, ranked No. 74 in the latest SCOREBOARD NCAA Division I Men’s Golf Rankings, are the third seed behind Troy (49) and Louisiana (69). A-State carries the top stroke average in the field this season at 285.3 followed by Troy (286.9), Georgia Southern (288.5), Louisiana (288.6) and South Alabama (288.9).

Junior Thomas Schmidt is ranked third in the league coming into the championship with a stroke average of 70.93, a single-season program record. Rounding out the A-State lineup will be Jake Lile (71.85), Chris Somerfield (72.44), Jack Maxey (72.48) and Jake Wallis (71.89). Milan Reed (73.04) serves as the sixth A-State player to make the trip and will be available as a substitute, if needed.

A-State is the event’s reigning champion, having won the 2024 Sun Belt Conference Championship with a 3-2-0 victory over ULM in the championship match. The Red Wolves were the No. 1 seed entering match play and took down No. 4 seed Texas State 3-1-0. It was the highest finish in stroke play at the SBC Championship in program history.