Bulldog Men Earn Sixth Straight NCAA Championship Berth
May 01, 2024 | Men's Golf
STARKVILLE – The No. 37 Mississippi State's men's golf program earned its 15th NCAA Championship berth as the field of 81 teams was announced Wednesday. It is the Bulldogs' sixth straight NCAA selection.Â
State is slated to compete as the No. 7 seed in the West Lafayette Regional on May 13-15. MSU will travel to the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex located in West Lafayette, Indiana. Â
Excluding the 2020 tournament, which was not played, the Bulldogs have made the NCAA tournament in each of head coach Dusty Smith's seven years at the helm of the program. The six-year streak marks MSU's longest NCAA tournament streak in program history, and the Bulldogs had never made more than three consecutive regionals prior to the current run. Last season, MSU won the Morgan Hill Regional in California to advance to the NCAA Championship for just the fourth time in program history.Â
"I am so proud of this team," Smith said. "Making the NCAA tournament is one of our core goals. Being able to watch this team work towards that goal and accomplish it brings great joy to myself and Coach K."Â
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The West Lafayette Regional is a loaded field that consists of four top-25 programs. The top seed in the regional is an SEC foe in No. 2 Vanderbilt. Joining the Commodores among the ranked squads will be No. 11 Arizona, No. 15 Florida and No. 25 New Mexico. The field will be rounded out by host Purdue, San Diego State, Indiana, Charleston, Stetson, Colorado State, Southern Illinois and Tennessee Tech. There are four conference champions within the regional.Â
"We are far from done and know the challenge we are up against but I have great belief in this group," Smith continued. The job is far from finished. We have to have a great couple of weeks of preparation in order to take advantage of this great opportunity that lies ahead of us."Â
The field will tee off for 54 holes of golf over three days. The top five teams in each region will advance to the NCAA Championship, which will take place in Carlsbad, California on May 24. The 30 advancing teams will play 54 holes to cut the field down to 15. Those 15 will play one final round to cut the field to eight. Those eight will be placed in a match play tournament to crown the 2024 NCAA Champion with the Championship match taking place on May 29.Â
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Live scoring for the West Lafayette Regional will be available at golfstat.com.Â