DALTON, Ga. – For the first time in over three decades, the Olivet Nazarene University men's golf team will be sending its squad to the NAIA National Championships at the Dalton Golf and Country Club in Dalton, Ga.

The 72nd National Tournament gets underway Tuesday. The 156-player field features 30 teams and six individuals.

That includes an Olivet Nazarene team coming off its first conference title in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) in late April. The team is led by sophomore Lorenzo Mariotti, who won the first three CCAC Men's Golfer of the Week awards and boasts a 75.8 stroke average over 21 rounds this year.

He is followed up by Jordan Evans, the team's lone senior, who played some of his best golf down the stretch with an all-tournament finish at the CCAC Championships in a tie for third place, and junior Jack Busch who bested the field by eight strokes to earn individual medalist honors at the conference championships played at Cinder Ridge in Wilmington, Ill.

Freshman Chris Brown and sophomore Hunter Trainor round out the Tiger top five. Sophomore Jack Rimington will serve as an alternate.

After practice rounds Monday, the event officially tees off at 7:30 a.m. EST. ONU will begin play at 1:30 p.m. EST on the back-nine off hole 10. The Tigers will be paired with Campbellsville, who earned an at-large bid to the championships from the NAIA, and Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament champion Lawrence Tech.

The Tigers will then tee off at 8:30 a.m EST Wednesday on the front at hole No. 1. The field will be cut following the second round and a national champion will be crowned following the tournament's fourth round Friday.

For more information regarding the 72nd NAIA Men's Golf Championships, click HERE. For the official live scoring from the event, click HERE.

--ONU—

*Contact: Evan Wild, Sports Information Director, ewwild@olivet.edu