NASHPORT, Ohio — Toledo will challenge for the 2017 Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championships on Friday-Sunday, April 28-30. The 72-hole event will take place at The Virtues Golf Club (Par-72, 7,243 yards) with 36 holes being played on Friday and 18 holes each on Saturday and Sunday. 

The Rockets have won three league crowns in school history in 1964, 2002 and most recently 2004.

UT's lineup at the MAC Championships will consist of junior co-captain Stephen Watts, freshman Thomas Thurloway, freshman Joe Bryce, sophomore Spencer Shoemaker and junior co-captain Colin Joseph. Thurloway and Watts currently lead the Midnight Blue & Gold with 74.3 and 74.8 stroke averages, respectively.

Toledo will tee off at 9:04 a.m. on Friday on hole No. 10 and will be paired with Akron for the first two rounds. 

In terms of Golfstat's national rankings, Kent State ranks first among MAC schools at No. 12, followed by Eastern Michigan (102), Ball State (132), Akron (135), Bowling Green (138), TOLEDO (154), Ohio (167), Northern Illinois (169) and Miami (185).

UT is coming off a 14th-place finish at the Boilermaker Invitational on April 15-16. The Rockets fired a team score of 46-over par 910 (307-309-294) to find themselves 14th among 15 squads at the Kampen Course (Par-72, 7,423 Yards).

Bryce tied for 13th place among 84 competitors in the individual standings at three-over par 219 (71-77-71) in the Boilermaker Invite to be UT's top finisher in a third-consecutive event.

Last spring, the Rockets finished sixth at the MAC Championships at the Highland Meadows Golf Club (Par-71, 6,712 yards) in nearby Sylvania. UT recorded a team score of 59-over par 1,195 over the course of 72 holes at the league's premier event. Otto Black topped UT at seven-over par 291 (72-73-74-72) and finished in 10th place, marking his third Top 10 effort at the conference championship. Black was honored with a spot on the All-MAC First-Team for a second-straight year.

The Golden Flashes captured their 23rd team title in program history with a four-round score of 16-over par 1,152 (288-291-285-288) in 2016, 20 strokes ahead of runner-up Eastern Michigan at 36-over par 1,172.

Individually, Akron's George Baylis claimed medalist honors with a tally of one-under par 283 (76-72-68-67) in a field of 45 players, four shots ahead of Kent State's Ian Holt (73-72-70-72), Northern Illinois' Joo-Young Lee (72-67-73-75) and Eastern Michigan's Kyles Rodes (70-77-70-70) at three-over par 287.

The Virtues Golf Club was designed by renowned golf course architect Arthur Hills to blend seamlessly with its pristine natural surrounding, just 40 miles from downtown Columbus.  Formerly known as Longaberger Golf Club, The Virtues Golf Club is Ohio's No. 1 public golf course and the No. 74 course in Top 100 Public Courses in America by Golf Digest.

The MAC Men's Golf Championships has been played in Nashport on three previous occasions – 2008, 2010 and most recently in 2013.

Fans can follow live scoring for this weekend's event through Golfstat at http://bit.ly/2q4dHmM.

This weekend's winner will receive the MAC's automatic bid to one of six NCAA Regional sites on Monday-Wednesday, May 15-17. The 2017 regional sites are: University Club in Baton Rouge, La. (LSU), The Grove in Murfreesboro, Tenn. (Middle Tennessee), the Kampen Course in West Lafayette, Ind. (Purdue), Stanford Golf Course in Stanford, Calif. (Stanford), the UT Golf Club in Austin, Texas (Texas), and the National Golf Club in Auburn, Wash. (Washington).

The NCAA Championships are scheduled to begin on Friday, May 26 and will be hosted by MAC-member NIU at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

2017 Mid-American Conference Championships Quick Facts
Dates: Friday-Sunday, April 28-30
Where: The Virtues Golf Club (Nashport, Ohio) - Par-72, 7,243 yards
Times: Tee times begin at 8:00 a.m. on Friday and 7:45 a.m. on Saturday and Sunday
Teams: Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami, Northern Illinois, Ohio, TOLEDO.