EL PASO, Texas – For the first time in 14 years, UTEP men's golf will be represented at the NCAA Championships as Charles Corner heads to Stillwater, Okla. for the 2018 NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships May 25-30 at the Karsten Creek Golf Club (par 72/7,460 yards). Finals play consists of three days of stroke play Friday through Sunday (54 holes), after which the top-15 teams and nine individuals not on an advancing team will be determined. A final day of 18 holes of stroke play on Monday will determine the top-eight teams that will advance to match play as well as the 72-hole individual champion. The team national champion will be determined by a match-play format that will consist of quarterfinals and semifinals conducted on May 29, with the finals following on May 30.
"This is super exciting for Charlie and myself, but its about Charlie," head coach Scott Lieberwirth said. "It's awesome for him and for our program. We're ready to go have some fun and see the competition at the top college level. It's a big stage, but once the tournament starts, it's just golf. "
Making up the 30-team field, by seed, is Oklahoma State, Texas A&M, Oklahoma, Vanderbilt, Alabama, Florida, Auburn, Illinois, Baylor, Texas Tech, Clemson, Texas, North Carolina, Brigham Young, Kansas, Stanford, Arkansas, Arizona State, UNLV, North Florida, Kentucky, UCLA, Duke, Kent State, Oregon, Northwestern, NC State, Iowa State, Central Florida and Augusta. Out of the 156 competitors, Corner will join the six individual qualifiers as the no. 5 seed, taking the field with Kyle Mueller (Michigan), Braden Thornberry (Ole Miss), George Cunningham (Arizona), Joshua McCarthy (Pepperdine) and Pontus Nyholm (Campbell).
"It's [Karsten Creek] an extremely demanding golf course, but it's also fair," Lieberwirth said. "You don't often have that. It tests every part of your game, whoever wins this event is a worthy champion."
Corner will tee off on the first tee at 8:12 a.m. MT on Friday to begin his NCAA finals run. Round two will see Corner teeing off at the 10th tee at 1:32 p.m. MT. He will be paired with McCarthy and Nyholm for the first two rounds. Groups will be repaired for round three and, if they qualify, for the fourth round of stroke play.
Corner earned the lone NCAA Pacific Regional berth after finishing with a share of third place out of a pool of 75 competitors last week and will be one of six individuals playing in the finals. Before him, the last UTEP golfer participating on the big stage was Chris Baryla in 2004.
At the NCAA Pacific Regional, the Canada product pieced together three rounds of 69 for his 9-under 207 (69-69-69) score. He finished higher than 14 ranked players, including Justin Suh, the No. 2 player in the country from Southern California. Corner recorded 14 birdies and only bogeyed three times in his nearly-flawless run.
The two-time Conference USA Second Team selection will be the only conference player on the national stage and the first golfer in head coach Scott Lieberwirth's career to advance to the finals. It will mark the beginning of the end of a phenomenal season for Corner, who finished at the top of the Miners' scorecard in four of five spring tournaments. He notched four top-five finishes this season and has earned two C-USA Golfer of the Week honors in his career. Adding to his resume, Corner was one of five C-USA golfers named to the 2018 InTouch Credit Union All-Academic Team and is a multi-C-USA Academic Honor Roll member, C-USA Commissioner's Academic Medal recipient and was a Golf Coaches Association of America Srixon/Cleveland Golf All-America Scholar in 2017. Corner earned his bachelor's degree in finance on May 12.
"Nothing changes at this point as far as a game plan, he has the experience and he's going to do just fine," Lieberwirth said. "We're going to go out and play a golf tournament."
Live stats for the NCAA Championships can be followed at www.golfstat.com and www.ncaa.com.
Tournament updates can also be found on the UTEP men's golf Twitter page (@UTEPminergolf).
May 25-30 — 2018 Finals Schedule of Events (All Times Local – Central Time) Karsten Creek Golf Club, Stillwater, Oklahoma; Oklahoma State University, host
All times are Central
Friday, May 25
7 a.m. First-round of stroke play competition
Saturday, May 26
7 a.m. Second-round of stroke play competition
Sunday, May 27
7 a.m. Third-round of stroke play competition
Monday, May 28
3-7 p.m. Live coverage on Golf Channel
7:10 p.m. Individual awards ceremony
7:25 p.m. Quarterfinal Match Play pairings determined
Tuesday, May 29
7 a.m. Match #1 and #2 begin (1st and 10th tees)
7:50 a.m. Match #3 and #4 begin (1st and 10th tees)
10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. Live coverage (quarterfinals) on Golf Channel
1:30 p.m. Match #5 begins (winners of match #1 and #2)
2:20 p.m. Match #6 begins (winners of match #3 and #4)
3-7 p.m. Live coverage (semifinals) on Golf Channel
7:30 p.m. Semifinalist awards ceremony
7:45 p.m. Championship Match Play pairings determined
Wednesday, May 30
Approx. 2:25 p.m. Championship Match begins (winner Match #5 vs. winner of Match #6)
3-7 p.m. Live coverage on Golf Channel
Following Play Awards ceremony
