Conference Preview/LIve Scoring Link

The Missouri State men's golf team begins its quest for a Missouri Valley Conference title this weekend in Coal Valley, Ill. The conference championship opens Sunday (Apr. 23) and continues through Tuesday at Oakwood Country Club in the Quad Cities, with the Bears and the league's nine other teams chasing the automatic bid to NCAA Regionals that comes with a victory. First-round play begins with tee times at 9:30 a.m. Sunday with the Bears getting underway at 10:20. 

Oakwood, the past site of the PGA Tour's Quad Cites Open and Hardee's Classic, is a 6760-yard, par 71 layout designed by legendary architect Pete Dye.

Illinois State is the preseason favorite, while MSU was picked to finish seventh in a poll of the league's coaches taken back in January. Valparaiso was chosen second and  defending champion Southern Illinois was third. Belmont, Bradley and UNI were picked fourth through sixth, followed by the Bears, Murray State, Drake and Evansville. MSU will be chasing its second MVC title in school history with the previous time coming in 1993. The Bears finished fifth a year ago at Paducah (Ky.) Country Club.

Max Kreikemeier is the unquestioned leader for Coach Neal Stafford's team, ranking third in the league and sporting a 71.04 scoring average. The senior from Chesterfield, Mo. already is a two-time all-conference performer and is coming off his best collegiate outing last week at the Tunica National Intercollegiate, where he earned medalist honors after shooting 11-under-par over three rounds and tying the school record with a 205 total for 54 holes.

Kreikemeier will be backed up by seniors Carter Lee, Austin Gillund and JP Lavalle, and junior Eric Schuessler. Lee ranks 13th in the conference in scoring average at 73.58 and has placed in the Bears' top two six times, including team-low honors with a fifth-place finish at the Missouri State Intercollegiate. Schuessler was MVC Golfer of the Week after tying for third at The Clerico back in the fall.

Live scoring for the tournament on Golfstat at: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=27909