DWU nearly made its debut at nationals a year ago, but the Tigers missed a bid by a single stroke at the NAIA Region III Championships. This year, the NAIA scrapped the regional format in favor of a direct qualifying system, which gave the automatic bids to the conferences.

Dakota Wesleyan will enter its first National Championships with a lineup that features both talent and experience. Senior Brett Abbotts and junior Nick Gates are the team leaders, and both earned All-GPAC First Team honors this season. Freshman Andrew Farrand joined the upperclassmen on the All-GPAC First Team, and sophomores Chris Pritchard and Tyler Evenson have both been mainstays in the Tiger lineup over their first two seasons.

Though this will be head coach Adam Anderson's first time guiding a men's team into the National Championships, he will hardly be a stranger to the format. Last season's GPAC Men's Golf Coach-of-the-Year has taken the DWU women's team to the National Championships in all four of his seasons at the helm, so Dakota Wesleyan is hoping those experiences will benefit the men's program in terms of preparation and expectations.

This will be the 58th Annual NAIA Men's Golf National Championships, and the host school is St. Ambrose University (Iowa). The field is made up of 31 teams - 20 automatic qualifiers and 10 at-large selections and the host berth - and five individual qualifiers. Defending national champion University of British Columbia headlines the field along with top-ranked Oklahoma Christian University. TPC Deere Run is a 7,213-yard par 71 course.

Updated scoring will be available on the NAIA's Web site throughout the tournament's four 18-hole rounds held Tuesday through Friday. To view scoring and tee times, log on to: http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-golf/spec-rel/072908aab.html.