The par-72 Steel Club in Hellertown, Pa. will serve as the host venue for the 2022 Patriot League Men's Golf Championship which is slated to begin on Friday. Lafayette will serve as the host school for the first time in championship history, while the eight-team field, which includes Army, Bucknell, Colgate, Holy Cross, Lehigh, Loyola and Navy, is scheduled for 18 holes each day. The winner of the event receives an automatic bid to one of the six NCAA Regionals (Traditions Club in College Station, Texas; PGA National Resort - Champion Course in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.; The Course at Yale in New Haven, Conn.; The Reserve at Spanos Park in Stockton, Calif.; Ol' Colony Golf Complex in Tuscaloosa, Ala.; and OSU Golf Club in Columbus, Ohio), held May 15-18. The 2022 NCAA DI Men's Golf Selection Show will be on Wednesday, May 4 on Golf Channel at 4 p.m. ET.

If the individual medalist is not part of the championship-winning team, he, too, will qualify for the NCAA Regionals. This has happened five times in league history, with Army West Point's Peter Kim qualifying in 2014 and 2017. Navy's Chris House qualified in 2013, the Black Knights' William Park qualified in 2012 and Navy's Billy Hurley accomplished the feat in 2004.

Individual Honors: The competitor with the lowest three-round score will be the Patriot League Men's Golf Championship individual medalist. The top five finishers are named to the All-Patriot League First Team, with the next five finishers making up the second team. The head coaches for the eight participating institutions will vote on the 2022 Patriot League Player, Rookie and Coach of the Year at the conclusion of the championship.

Crowning a Team Champion: Each of the eight participating teams consist of six golfers, with the top-four scorers in each round counting toward the team score. The final team score will be determined by totaling all completed rounds. Individual scoring consists of the lowest aggregate score of all completed rounds.

Berry Leads Returning All-Patriot League Selections in the 2022 Field: Six All-Patriot League honorees from last season's championship will return to the field in 2022, including individual medalist Brandon Berry, a graduate student at Loyola. Lafayette senior Kazuki Osawa, Lehigh junior Sam Barton and Navy junior Keegan Shreves tied for third at last year's championship to earn First-Team All-Patriot League honors, while Lafayette junior Ryan Tall and Navy senior Nicholas Klock both made the second team. Colgate sophomore Dugan McCabe returns after claiming Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors last spring.

The Course
The 2022 Patriot League Men's Golf Championship will be the first hosted by Lafayette at Steel Club in Hellertown, Pa.

Navy's Projected Lineup
1. Chad Deegan (Sr / Newport Beach, Calif. / 73.17)
2. Nicholas Klock (Sr / Moraga, Calif. / 75.24)
3. Keegan Shreves (Jr / Potomac, Md. / 75.10)
4. Braxton Tracy (Jr / Huntersville, N.C. / 77.00)
5. Ben Valdez (Fr / Stevenson Ranch, Calif. / 76.27).
6. Andrew Wilkinson (Fr / Ashland, Va. / 75.00)

About the Mids
The Midshipmen have claimed the Patriot League Championship title seven times (1998-2000-2001-2003-2008-2012-2018), including back-to-back-to-back titles in 1998 (fall), 2000 and 2001. In addition, eight different Midshipmen have won the individual title, while five Navy players have captured rookie of the year honors.

Three of the six players slated to represent Navy in this weekend's championship have previously played in the tournament, including team captain Chad Deegan (Newport Beach, Calif.) who will make his third appearance at the conference championship. He garnered Second-Team All-Patriot League recognition as a freshman in 2019 where he tied for ninth. He finished last year's tournament in 21st. Senior Nicholas Klock (Moraga, Calif.) and junior Keegan Shreves (Potomac, Md.) made their debut in last year's tournament where Shreves tied for third to earn First-Team All-Patriot League kudos and Klock took second-team recognition after tying for ninth.

Junior Braxton Tracy (Huntersville, N.C.), along with freshmen Ben Valdez (Stevenson Ranch, Calif.) and Andrew Wilkinson (Ashland, Va.) will make their championship debut this weekend.

While it is the first time the Steel Club will serve as the host venue, the course, however, is not unfamiliar to most of the conference schools. Lafayette hosted the Abarta Coca-Cola Collegiate Invitational at the Steel Club on April 10-11 where six of the eight teams competed (Army and Loyola did not). Navy placed 14th among the 20-team field with Andrew Wilkinson pacing the team with a 3-over par 147 and a 16th-place finish. Navy's two veteran players, Chad Deegan and Nicholas Klock, did not participate, allowing an opportunity for some of Navy's younger players to get the feel for the course. Bucknell's Blake Wisdom (-4) and Jackson Bussell (-1), Lafayette's Kazuki Osawa (-2) and Ryan Tall (-2) and Lehigh's David Hurly (-1) all placed among the top 10 in the tournament.

### Go Navy ###