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The Missouri State men's golf team is in the Bluegrass State for their annual Missouri Valley Conference Championship to be played at the Country Club of Paducah in Paducah, Ky. The Bears and the league's eight other teams will tee it up for three days, Sunday thru Tuesday (Apr. 24-26), with the champion earning the MVC's automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals.

The Bears were picked sixth in a preseason poll of the league's coaches and are ranked seventh by Golfstat entering the tournament. They'll be in search of their second MVC title in school history, the previous win coming in 1993. MSU has posted a solid spring season starting with top-five finishes at the Veterans Intercollegiate and Loyola Intercollegiate, where a pair of school records fell, including a best-ever 272 team score for 18 holes.

This will be the first time hosting the Valley tournament for the Country Club of Paducah, which will play to par 72 and 7014 yards for the championship. Teams will tee off beginning at 9:30 a.m. CT Sunday and Tuesday, and 9 a.m. on Monday.

Loyola picked up its first MVC title last year while the Bears finished fifth, paced by all-conference performer Max Kreikemeier, who finished seventh.

Kreikemeier is back to lead the Bears along with graduate transfer Alex Locke, who has given Coach Neal Stafford's team a lift after transferring from Maryville. Locke and Kreikemeier, who both qualified for the United States Amateur last summer, rank eighth and tenth in the league, respectively, in scoring average with marks of 73.41 and 73.79. Sophomore Eric Schuessler and senior Carter Lee are next for MSU with 75.46 and 75.54 stroke averages, respectively, Lee is the school recordholder for best 54-hole score, a 205 he shot earlier in the spring at the aforementioned Loyola Intercollegiate. Rounding out the lineup will be junior Austin Gillund with a 78.94 average.

The weather forecast calls for a good chance of rain and thunderstorms Sunday night and Monday, otherwise fair conditions for the tournament.