LA Tech Golf Notebook: C-USA Championship | Round 1 Pairings | Live Scoring

RUSTON, La. - When Louisiana Tech tees off at the Conference USA Men's Golf Championship at the Texarkana Country Club on Sunday, the goal is to finish in the top four. At least, for stroke play. That is because C-USA is still one of the only leagues with a match play bracket to determine its champion, similar to the NCAA Championships.

The three rounds of stroke play that will determine the four teams advancing to match play begins with tee times starting at 8 a.m. on Sunday, April 24 at the par 72, 6,969-yard course. Ranked eighth in the league, LA Tech will face a field that includes five teams ranked in the top 100 nationally. The Bulldogs will tee off Sunday at 8 a.m. off the No. 10 tee and will be paired with Middle Tennessee and Old Dominion. Only two strokes separated the three teams at the 2015 C-USA Championship. The conference officially released the pairings Thursday afternoon.

Seeding is based on the current Golfstat rankings, making No. 37 UAB this year's top seed. The Blazers will tee off hole No. 1, along with defending champion and No. 60 North Texas and No. 76 Charlotte, at 9:20 a.m.

Louisiana Tech has posted a 12-6 record in stroke play against Conference USA programs this year and the Bulldogs are led by senior Victor Lange. A native of South Africa, Lange is the third-highest ranked golfer in Conference USA this season, assuring him of All-Conference USA honors. He is also on the ballot for the Conference USA All-Academic Team with a 3.2 grade point average and a 72.71 season stroke average. He is the only golfer in the league to earn C-USA Golfer of the Week honors on three separate occasions this year.

Three rounds totaling 54 holes on Sunday through Tuesday will determine the top four teams for match play. Last year Conference USA became the first Division I conference to implement match play as part of the championship, similar to the eight team match play used at the NCAA Championships. Louisiana Tech finished eighth at the 2015 C-USA Championship.

Ben Robinson seems to be peaking at the right time as he enters postseason play having just recorded his best performance of the season. The senior finished 1-under-par at the Jim West Intercollegiate in Bastrop, Texas as he recorded his first top-10 finish of the season.

Luke Neeley, a redshirt sophomore, only saw action at one tournament this season but a strong week of qualifying has the Mansfield, Texas native on the Bulldogs line-up. He will be making his first career postseason appearance.

Also making his first career postseason appearance is freshman Jacob Wyatt. The Benton High School product from Bossier City has registered an average round of 77.22 this season in three tournaments.

Rounding out the Louisiana Tech lineup is Chuck Spears. The senior has a 75.78 stroke average this year, a mark that ranks third on the team. Spears' best finish of the year came at the UTSA Oak Hills Invitational as he placed fourth with a 2-over-par tournament.

For every succeeding round, team scores will determine pairings. Complete tee times and live scoring of this year's C-USA Men's Golf Championship will be provided by Golfstat at golfstat.com.

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