Illinois State is the unanimous favorite to win the 2021 Missouri Valley Conference Men's Golf Championship, according to a pre-championship poll of league coaches. The Redbirds received all nine first-place votes and 81 total points in the poll.  Southern Illinois is the next choice, earning 66 total points, and Valparaiso has been picked to finish third (53 points).  Voting for the next three positions is tightly bunched with Drake (48), Loyola (47) and Missouri State (43) garnering similar point totals for fourth, fifth and sixth in the poll.  UNI (26), Evansville (23) and Bradley (18) round out the voting.

This year's championship will be played at Flossmoor Golf Club, a par-72, 7,070-yard course in Flossmoor, Ill. Teams will play 36 holes on Monday, April 26, and conclude with 18 holes on Tuesday, April 27.  Monday's shotgun start begins at 9 a.m. CT (weather permitting).  And Tuesday's round begins at 8:30 a.m. with staggered tee times.  The MVC's 54-hole tournament champion will advance to the NCAA Regionals.  Live scoring will be provided by GolfStat.

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Live Scoring:  Click Here

 

Place	Team (First-Place Votes)	Points
1	Illinois State (9)	81
2	Southern Illinois	66
3	Valparaiso	53
4	Drake	48
5	Loyola	47
6	Missouri State	43
7	UNI	26
8	Evansville	23
9	Bradley	18

FLOSSMOOR: Just 45 minutes from downtown Chicago, Flossmoor Golf Club was founded in 1899 and shortly after played host to the 1920 PGA Championship and 1923 U.S. Amateur. More recently, it has served as the site of the Loyola Women's Fall Invitational since 2014.

Fans must remain physically distant from other families or groups when moving through the venue or while on the course. Fans are not permitted to interact with the student-athletes, coaches, team personnel or rules officials at any time. Fans are encouraged to review host course and local health and safety guidelines prior to arrival.

2019 REVIEW (The 2020 MVC Championship was not conducted due to the pandemic):  For the second time in school history, Southern Illinois earned the Missouri Valley Conference men's golf crown.  The Salukis' four counting scores on Tuesday fired a 12-under on the back nine to capture a 10-stroke victory over second-place Illinois State.  The MVC Men's Golf Championship was played at the par-72, 7,060-yard layout at the The Club at Porto Cima in Sunrise Beach, Mo.

Southern Illinois represented the MVC in the NCAA Regionals after firing a 291-287-281=859 to outdistance pre-championship favorite Illinois State (285-292-292=869).  Missouri State was 15 strokes behind Illinois State at 884, followed by Bradley (894), Valparaiso (902), UNI (918), Drake (921), Loyola (922) and Evansville (937).  Illinois State, with its second-place finish, earned a top four finish at the league championship for the fourth-straight year.  Southern Illinois, meanwhile, won its only other league title in 2016.

The championship featured a playoff for medalist honors as David Rauer of Illinois State scored a four on the first playoff hole (hole 18) to earn the win.  Missouri State's Kory Franks carded a five on the hole.  Both individuals shot identical scores of 212 (four under par) to tie after 54 holes.  Following the completion of the round, however, there was a one-hour, 35-minute delay after a lightning strike in the area.  After the delay, the two battled out the sudden-death tiebreaker in a downpour.