TEXARKANA, Texas – After its share of ups and downs this season, the UNT men's golf team sets its sights on a berth in the NCAA tournament and a league championship when it begins play in the Conference USA Tournament Monday at Texarkana Country Club.
 
The Mean Green are the fourth seed entering the tournament, in which the top four teams after three rounds of play advance to the match play portion of the tournament, in which the last team standing will be crowned conference champion. Last year, North Texas suffered heartbreak on the final hole and was edged out by Rice to qualify for the match-play semifinals.
 
"This season, we had our fair share of adversity with injuries," UNT coach Brad Stracke said, after losing two key players (Thomas Rosenmueller and Kristof Ulenaers) to injuries at different points in the season. "Sometimes, adversity makes you stronger, and I know the guys traveling are up to the challenge."
 
To keep the theme of adjusting and having curveballs thrown their way, the Mean Green, along with the rest of the field, will have to adjust their schedules due to some expected inclement weather later in the week. Instead of the planned four-day event, the coaches met Sunday and decided, along with conference officials, to play 36 holes instead of 18 on Monday. The third round will be played Tuesday morning, and match play semifinals, which are originally scheduled for Thursday, could follow Tuesday afternoon.
 
UNT will field a lineup consisting of several usual suspects like Viktor Forslund, Jordan Sanders and Lenny Bergsson, who have played in all the team's tournaments this year. Henri Renouard has played in five tournaments this year, and Alec Wilson will be playing in just his second tournament of the year.
 
Stracke said he believes his team has done everything it can to prepare for what it will see in Texarkana.
 
"This team has been preparing for the conference tournament for over a month," he said. "They have worked diligently on distance control, which is a must-have for Texarkana's green complexes."
 

Conference USA Championship
Texarkana Country Club | Texarkana, Texas
The North Texas men's golf team moves to postseason play for the Conference USA Championship, looking to earn a berth to the NCAA tournament.
 
THE EVENT: The Texarkana Country Club will play at 6,935 yards, and will be a par-72 course for the tournament. The four-day event begins Monday, with teams teeing off at 8 a.m. in stroke-play format, and they will play 36 holes. Round 3 is set for Tuesday before possibly playing the match play semifinals later that day.
 
THE FIELD: There are 13 teams, including five teams in the top 30 nationally and the top two teams, participating in the tournament: Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, Louisiana Tech, Marshall, Middle Tennessee, North Texas, Old Dominion, Rice, Southern Mississippi, UAB, UTEP, UTSA and Western Kentucky.
 
REPRESENTING UNT: Competing for the Mean Green will be Viktor Forslund, Lenny Bergsson, Jordan Sanders, Henri Renouard and Alec Wilson.
 
RESULTS: Live results will be posted on GolfStat.com. Full recaps from each day of competition will be posted on MeanGreenSports.com at the end of each round.
 
LAST TIME OUT: North Texas finished tied for 11th at the Hayt Invitational on March 31-April 1, in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, and had two top-15 individual finishes from Forslund (T-6th) and Bergsson (T-14th). The Aggie Invitational, scheduled for April 6-7, was canceled due to inclement weather.
 
INTERNATIONAL FLAVOR: The Mean Green feature five international players this year: Lenny Bergsson (Iceland), Viktor Forslund (Sweden), Henri Renouard (France), Thomas Rosenmueller (Germany) and Kristof Ulenaers (Belgium).