By MATT PIKE
Next week, St. Joseph and the St. Joseph Sports Commission will play host to high level golf as the St. Joseph Country Club will play host for the sixth time in history to NCAA Division II Regional golf.
The NCAA Division II Women’s Central Regional Golf Tournament will be held at the St. Joseph Country Club next Monday through Wednesday, bringing in 18 teams and six individuals, making up a 96 player field competing for a spot in the championships in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.
Sports Commission Director Brett Esely says anytime you get to host an NCAA event, be it a regional or a championship, it’s both prestigious and an honor.
“I think we have always approached these events as to what do we have tradition in, what do we do well, and what do we have a great venue for the sport we’re trying to host?” Esely tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post. “And St. Joseph Country Club, I think anybody that knows anything about golf and the venue understands the type of facility it is, the type of history that it has, and it has great history with this event, now almost 30 years of with NCAA regionals.
The first NCAA regional tournament was held in 1997, a men’s tournament in which the Missouri Western men’s golf team won and advanced to the national championship. Two other men’s regional tournaments have been hosted in St. Joseph, the most recent, last year, while the women’s tournament was last hosted at the Country Club in 2021, and before that 2013.
The field of 96 features local intrigue as both the Missouri Western women’s team and the Northwest Missouri State teams will be on the course. Esely says it’s always a hope you can get your host institution in with the Griffons.
“Missouri Western women’s golf makes their way back to the regional, a lot of great tradition there now on the women’s side, Coach (Matt) Thrasher and his group look forward to playing on their home venue,” Esely says. “But this field collectively, when you look at it, everybody playing in this field has the capability of moving onto the national event, you’ve got the national runner up in Central Missouri, Arkansas Tech who comes in as the number one seed is usually always advancing onto national play.”
The other unique aspect to this field, Esely points out, is the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, a member of the MIAA that features some local talent.
“Ali Perry the graduate from Central High School who was our Bill Snyder Woman at last year’s Area Sports Hall of Fame is a sophomore at Arkansas Fort Smith, her and her team advanced onto the national tournament last year and they enter next week’s event as a six seed, so again always neat you can bring back a local tie,” Esely explains. “So, collectively you’ve got very good representation across the MIAA, the NSIC, the Great America Conference, which are schools made up of Arkansas and Oklahoma, and then the six individual competitors as well.”
The first round of the tournament will be held on Monday, with the second round on Tuesday, and final round on Wednesday. A practice round for the competitors will be held on Sunday. All rounds are free for the public to attend and view.
Esely says if you are a fan of high competition golf, such as tuning in for The Masters, the Country Club might be the place for you next week.
“I feel like even if you’re just a casual fan of sports, or a casual fan of golf, I would venture to say that if you like sports at all you probably turned The Masters golf tournament on three weeks ago, and that’s probably a place that a majority of the people will never get to in their lifetime because it’s so hard A, to get tickets to that venue, but B, to get to an event like that,” Esely says. “But if that captured you at all about golf, I would tell you that you have championship golf coming to our region next Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.”
“And these women coming to town play at a very high level, they hit the ball very well, they definitely define the term student athlete, and you are going to see competition at its absolute finest.”
You can find more information about the NCAA DII Central Regional, including tee times, by visiting the St. Joseph Sports Commission’s website.
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