May 2, 2008

KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletic (NAIA) released the qualifiers for the 57th Annual NAIA Men's Golf National Championship and #22 St. Thomas University made the list of qualifiers. The tournament will be held at Indiana National Golf Club in Plymouth, Ind., May 13-16, 2008.

The Bobcats received an at-large bid because of they won the Florida Sun Conference men's golf tournament champion and were the Region XIV runner up.

This year's championship will feature 28 teams, include 13 region champions, 14 at-large bids and one host berth, and four individual qualifiers.

The 72-hole tournament field will be cut to top 17 teams and 40 individuals (including ties) after 54 holes. Field size is a maximum of 144 golfers, including team champions, regional medalists, returning All-Tournament team players, and at-large team berths.

The NAIA long drive competition will take place during Monday's practice round. The top 5 will be recognized during the opening banquet. Only one player per team may compete and individual qualifiers are also eligible to participate.

British Columbia, Campbellsville (Ky.), Davenport (Mich.), Johnson & Wales (Fla.), Lee (Tenn.), Malone (Ohio), Midland Lutheran (Neb.), Oklahoma City, Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.), Southwestern (Kan.), St. Ambrose (Iowa), Tennessee Wesleyan and Williams Woods (Mo.) all received an automatic bid after winning their respective region tournaments.

Berry (Ga.), California-East Bay, Lindenwood (Mo.), Northwood (Texas), Ohio Dominican, Oklahoma Christian, Savannah College of Art and Design (Ga.), Shorter (Ga.), Southern Nazarene (Okla.), St. Thomas (Fla.), Texas Wesleyan, Victoria (B.C.), Wayland Baptist (Texas) and Webber International (Fla.) received an at-large bid while Bethel (Ind.) earned an automatic host berth.

Four individual qualifiers include Tyler Austin, Concordia (Ore.), Scott Conway, California-San Marcos, Raphael Marguery, Missouri Valley and Luke Vermeer, Northwestern (Iowa). Marguery and Vermeer received an automatic qualification to the national championships after winning Region V and Region III individual titles respectively. Conway earned the trip after being selected to the 2007 All-Tournament Team last season. Austin will head to Plymouth, Ind. as an at-large selection.