SAN DIEGO, Calf. - The journey to return to the national stage begins Thursday for the North Texas men's golf team as they begin play in the NCAA Regional Tournament in San Diego. The Mean Green, ranked No. 39 in the nation, enters the San Diego Regional as the No. 7 seed looking to advance to the NCAA Championship.

The Mean Green is coming off a second-place finish at the Sun Belt Conference Championship while sophomore Carlos Ortiz won the individual title with a 7-under par score. Ortiz is ranked at the No. 64 player in the nation by Golfweek.com entering the regional.

The regional tournament is the first for North Texas since 2003 but Ortiz and Rodolfo Cazaubon are not strangers to the post-season as they both played as individuals last season in the NCAA Regional. Cazaubon finished in eighth overall at last season's NCAA Regional.

The Mean Green will face some familiar teams in the regional as the field has fellow Sun Belt foe Middle Tennessee along with Texas, Tulsa, and SMU.

The 54-hole event begins Thursday morning from The Farms Golf Club in San Diego.  The top-five teams will advance from the regional to the NCAA Championship. Live stats can be found at www.golfstat.com

Teams
1. UCLA
2. Texas
3. USC
4. San Diego
5. Ohio State
6. UNLV
7. North Texas
8. Middle Tennessee
9. Tulsa
10. SMU
11. Pacific
12. San Francisco
13. Cleveland State