MADISON, Miss. (4/26/26) – The Arkansas State men's golf team will tee off Monday in the first round of the Sun Belt Conference Men's Golf Championships at Annandale Golf Club in Madison, Miss.

The par-72, 7,157-yard course plays host to the Sun Belt Conference Championship for the fourth consecutive season. Opened in 1981, Annandale Golf Club was designed by Jack Nicklaus. It has played host to numerous championship events, including serving as home of the PA Tour Sanderson Farms Championship from 1994 to 2013.

The championship will begin with three rounds of stroke play starting Monday. The teams will tee off from split tees beginning at 8:30 a.m., with six teams teeing off No. 1 and eight teams teeing off No. 10. The top four teams from the 54-hole stroke play event will advance to match play on Thursday, April 30. The semifinal matches will begin at 7:30 a.m. with the No. 1 and No. 4 seed on No. 1 and the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds on No. 10. The championship match will follow the conclusion of the semifinal matches on Thursday. All three rounds of stroke play, along with Thursday's semifinal and championship matches, will be broadcast live on ESPN+. Live scoring is available via Scoreboard.

For the 10th consecutive season, A-State is a top four seed entering the championship. The Red Wolves, ranked No. 45 in the latest SCOREBOARD NCAA Division I Men's Golf Rankings, are the top seed. Joining A-State in the top 100 nationally are Georgia Southern (53), Southern Miss (66), South Alabama (77) and Coastal Carolina (82). Louisiana (116), Texas State (117), James Madison (126), Troy (161), Georgia State (168), App State (183), ULM (192), Old Dominion (228) and Marshall (248) complete the field. A-State carries the top stroke average in the field this season at 281.4 followed by Georgia Southern (281.6), South Alabama (283.2) and Southern Miss (284.3).

Senior Thomas Schmidt is ranked atop the conference with a 69.04 stroke average, a single-season program record. Rounding out the A-State lineup will be Jake Wallis (70.33), Milan Reed (71.26), Cole Kirby (72.89) and Jake Lile (72.33). Viggo Hed (74.00) serves as the sixth A-State player to make the trip and will be available as a substitute, if needed.

A-State has advanced to the match play finals each of the last two seasons, winning the title in 2024 over ULM 3-2. The Red Wolves won the stroke play portion of the tournament in 2024 while finishing second last season.