Men’s Golf Set For NCAA Bryan Regional

Men's Golf 5/11/2018 11:00:00 AM

PEORIA, Ill. -- After claiming the first Missouri Valley Conference title in program history, Bradley Men's Golf will continue its season at the NCAA Bryan Regional in Bryan, Texas, May 14-16 in the team's first NCAA post-season appearance since 1955.

The Braves are the #13 seed in the 13-team Bryan Regional, which will be played at the par-72, 7,146-yard Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas. The Jack Nicklaus designed course opened in 2004 and serves as the home course for Texas A&M, which is the #1 seed in the regional.

Four teams ranked in the top 25 of the latest Golfweek.com rankings help make up the Bryan Regional Field in #3 Texas A&M, #11 Baylor, #16 Clemson and #24 Kentucky. In addition another six teams in the Golfweek.com top 60 in #28 UCLA, #31 Ole Miss, #46 South Carolina, #47 Georgia, #52 San Francisco and #60 Mississippi State help highlight the field. UNC Wilmington and Northern Colorado, which both won conference titles, round out the regional lineup.

The teams will play one round Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday with the top five teams and highest-placed individual not on one of those five teams earning a spot in the NCAA Championship, which will be played May 25-30 in Stillwater, Okla. After Sunday's practice round, tournament play will get underway each day with tee times starting at 7:30 a.m. Bradley will be paired with the 10 individuals in the Bryan Regional Field for Monday's opening round and will start off on hole #1 beginning at 9:20 a.m. BradleyBraves.com will provide links to live stats throughout the three-day event.

First MVC Title
   Bradley Men's Golf will make its first NCAA post-season appearance since 1955 after claiming its first Missouri Valley Conference Championship in program history. Members of the MVC for a total of 65 years, the Braves had only finished as high as second at the Valley Championship prior to this spring's title with the second-place showings in 1986 and 1984. Bradley topped second-place Southern Illinois by 15 strokes to win the MVC team title April 23 & 24 at Dalhousie Country Club in Cape Girardeau, Mo. In addition to the conference team title, junior Drake Bushong claimed MVC individual medalist honors by three strokes at one-over 217 over teammates Ethan Brue and Michael Mounce, who tied for second (220) as the Braves became the first team to have the top three individuals at the Valley Championship since Wichita State in 2012. Bushong is the third Brave to win the MVC individual crown and first since Dave Wettlaufer won in back-to-back seasons in 1984 & 1985. Former Bradley standout Bo Togikawa shared the 1951 MVC individual title with Oklahoma State's Ben Dickson.

NCAA History
   The Braves will be making their first NCAA postseason appearance since 1955 and fourth overall. Bradley's first Missouri Valley Conference Championship ended a 63-year stretch between post-season appearances for the Braves, who last played in the NCAA postseason in 1955 when Bradley tied Minnesota and Ohio for 19th at the NCAA Championship held in Knoxville, Tenn. The Braves highest NCAA Championship finish came in 1952 (15th) in West Lafayette, Ind. According to the Bradley Athletics archives, the Braves also played in the 1942 NCAA Championship held in South Bend, Ind., but did not place among the top 13 in the event listed in the NCAA Record Book.

Loving the Lone Star State
   Bradley has opened its spring schedule in the state of Texas each of the past three seasons and the Braves spent spring break in both the 2015-16 & 2016-17 seasons in the Lone Star State. In fact, the lowest 54-hole team score in school history was carded during the 2017 Bradley Spring Break Invitational at Brookhaven Country Club in Farmers Branch, Texas. This season, the Braves turned in the first sub-par 54-hole team score in program history with a 5-under par 859 to finish second of 13 teams at the Colin Montgomerie/Houston Baptist Invitational (Augusta Pines Golf Club) in Spring, Texas, back in February to open the spring slate. The Bryan Regional will mark the sixth tournament in Texas for Bradley over the last three seasons. Prior to the 2015-16 season, the Braves had not played in the state of Texas since 1998.

Winning Ways
   The 2018 MVC title was Bradley's second team title of the 2017-18 season and the Braves have won multiple tournaments in back-to-back years for the first time in 30 years. In fact, Bradley has won six tournaments over the past two seasons and 10 events over the last five seasons. Prior to winning the 2013-14 Butler Fall Invitational to open this five-year stretch, the Braves had not won a team title since 1996-97. The 10 team wins over the last five seasons equals Bradley's total during a 24-year stretch from 1988-89 through 2012-13. Individually, the Braves have three medalist crowns this season and 11 over the last two seasons. Bradley has 17 individual wins over the last five years and 20 since 2010-11. Since the start of the 1962-63 season, the Braves have 44 medalist honors with nearly half (20) coming in the last eight years. Junior Drake Bushong earned his fourth career medalist title by winning the 2018 MVC Individual Championship by three strokes.

Turning Point
   There may have been several key points during the 2017-18 season for Bradley Men's Golf, but none might be bigger when 2018 MVC medalist Drake Bushong was held out of the lineup for the Bill Ross Intercollegiate Oct. 9 & 10. Bushong had played in 27 consecutive tournaments (77 consecutive rounds) as part of the team lineup before missing the Bill Ross Intercollegiate. Through the first three tournaments of 2017-18, Bushong owned a 77.57 stroke average. After returning to the lineup for the final fall tournament (Little Rock Invitational), Bushong posted a 73.78 average round which included 73.73 average in the spring. Both of Bushong's top-10 finishes have come in tournaments Bradley has won and his medalist title at the MVC Championship made him the first three-time All-Missouri Valley Conference performer in program history. He ranks third in Bradley history with a 73.93 career stroke average.

Lineup Change
   Junior Michael Mounce provided a big lift for the Braves at the 2018 Missouri Valley Conference Championship, tying teammate Ethan Brue for second at four-over 220. Bradley had used the same lineup for the first four tournaments of the spring before head coach Jeff Roche decided to move Mounce into the lineup in place of redshirt junior Daniel Lensing. An Illinois State transfer, Mounce had played in just two spring tournaments both as an individual and had made just two of his five previous tournament appearances in 2017-18 as part of the team lineup. In fact, Mounce's first appearance in the team lineup came when junior Drake Bushong missed the Bill Ross Intercollegiate and he went on to play in each of the last two fall tournaments. Mounce owned a 73.89 average in his nine rounds this spring.

Home Grown Talent
   Junior Drake Bushong (Pekin, Ill.) and redshirt senior Zach Jewell (Mapleton, Ill.) both call the Peoria area home, but a bulk of the Braves' 11-person roster resides within a 70-mile radius of Bradley's campus. Ethan Brue's hometown of Chandlerville, Ill., is 68 miles from Bradley and the two-time NJCAA All-American attended Illinois Central College in East Peoria along with Jewell and junior Seth Rebbe, who is from Petersburg, Ill. (60 miles). Brue leads the team with a 73.03 stroke average. In addition, twin brothers Branden and Michael Mounce, who both transferred from MVC rival Illinois State, come from nearby El Paso, Ill. (34 miles). Senior Matthew Specht (Munster, Ind.) is the only player in the Bradley lineup from outside the state of Illinois and is the only four-year letterwinner on the squad. Specht's older sister Kyela was a member of the Bradley women's cross country/track & field teams and reached the 2015 NCAA West Prelims in the 800 meters.

Leaving His Mark
   Senior Ethan Brue has been Bradley's top finisher in six of 10 events and has placed in the top 10 in seven tournaments this season. Brue, who opened the season with back-to-back medalist titles at the Crusader Collegiate and Derek Dolenc Invitational to open the 2017-18 Fall season, has the most individual titles in school history with five career wins despite playing just two seasons on The Hilltop. A two-time NJCAA All-American at Illinois Central College in East Peoria, Brue owns a team-best 73.033 stroke average this season and looks to challenge junior Drake Bushong's school season record 73.030 average set during his freshman season (2015-16). Brue currently owns the lowest career stroke average in Bradley history at 73.25 and holds the school record for career sub-70 rounds (11) despite playing just 65 career rounds as a Brave.

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