LOS ANGELES – Loyola Marymount men's golf will be representing the West Coast Conference at the season-opening tournament Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday, Sept. 16-18. The Golfweek Conference Challenge, held in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will have one school competing from each of the 16 top NCAA golf conferences.
 
"Practices have been very competitive right out of the gate," said Head Coach Jason D'Amore. "We've had really good qualifying to see who was going to this first tournament. Two freshmen really played well and really stepped up. With the addition of some of our new guys, plus the maturity of our returners, I think the guys really want to go out and make a statement and win the first event that we play in." 
 
Coach D'Amore's lineup will include returning All-WCC performer and senior Riley Elmes with Cameron Meeks, Samuel Su, Kyle Kinnane, and Raymond Navis. Both Kinnane and Navis will make their collegiate debuts as freshmen.
 
LMU joins Arkansas State, Ball State, Boston College, Campbell, Dayton, Furman, Iowa, Jacksonville, Jacksonville State, Kansas State, , Sacramento State, San Jose State, Southern Illinois, UCLA, and UTEP as participating teams, with the Hawkeyes serving as the host institution.
 
The teams will play a total of 54 holes, with 18 played on each of the three days at the Donald Ross Course at Cedar Rapids Country Club The Par 72/7,112 yard course was created in 1904 and restored in 2015.
 
"This is Cedar Rapid Country Club with an old, historic design," said D'Amore. "The Donald Ross course has really tricky greens and heavy slopes from back to front. I think having really good short game and keeping the ball on the fairway is going to be paramount for us to have a chance to win at the end of the week." 
 
Competition will begin at 9:30 a.m. (CT) split tee times on Sunday and Monday, 9:00 a.m. (CT) shotgun start on Tuesday.
 
Live scoring will be available through golfstat.com.