HARDEEVILLE, S.C. (April 26, 2023) – Seton Hall is the defending team champion and Marquette is the highest rated team going into the 2023 BIG EAST Men’s Golf Championship Presented by JEEP April 28-30 played for the first time at the Riverton Pointe Golf Course in Hardeeville, S.C.
 
The Championship, which will be held April 28-30, is scheduled for 54 holes over three days.
 
The BIG EAST will crown a team champion, which gains an automatic berth to the 2023 NCAA Championship.  Should the individual champion not be a member of the winning team, he will also earn an automatic spot in the NCAA Championship.  

Play is scheduled to begin Friday and Saturday at 8 a.m. ET.  On Sunday, play begins at 8:30 a.m. Live stats will be available on GolfStat.com.
 
GameKast Live, a golf streaming service, will provide coverage. Viewers will form an account, but there will be no charge for the service this year. GKLive.TV will cover the entire 54-hole event using over 20 cameras. Live commentary from the 18th green, player and coach interviews and highlights will be provided.  GameKast Live provided coverage of the women’s championship last week.
 
The GameKast link: https://www.gklive.tv/event/2023-big-east-conference-mens-golf-championship
 
Last year, Seton Hall edged Marquette by three strokes to grab the title. Connecticut finished third, eight strokes behind Marquette. For the second straight year, there was a two-way tie for medalist honors after 54 holes. UConn’s Caleb Manuel won a playoff against Seton Hall’s Gregor Tait.
 
Marquette is the No. 1 seed in this year’s championship and is the highest ranked team by GolfStat. Grad student Nicolas Evangelio is the fourth highest ranked BIG EAST individual by GolfStat. His average score is 71.93. He tied for 10^th at last year’s Championship. Max Lyons and Tyler Leach are ranked sixth and seventh with averages of 72.28 and 72.34, respectively. The Golden Eagles are coming off a team win at the Redhawk Intercollegiate.
 
Seton Hall comes in as the second-ranked team according to GolfStat. New head coach J.T. Harper can look to Wanxi Sun, who is the eighth-ranked individual. The junior owns a 73.00 stroke average and has won one tournament. Sophomore George Fricker ranks 12^th with a 73.44 average.
 
Butler does not have any individuals ranked in the top 10, but they have three in the second 10 led by sophomore Damon Dickey (No. 15), senior Raymond Sullivan (No. 16) and freshman Connor McNeely (No. 19). The Bulldogs, who are third in the rankings, are looking to make a jump in the standings after finishing 10^th last spring.
 
St. John’s is ranked fourth and led by sophomore Peicheng Chen, who ranks as the second-best individual with a 71.79 average. He has two tournament wins this year. The Red Storm are also bolstered by ninth-ranked Jack Simon, who tied for eighth at last year’s Championship, and 11^th-rated Tyler Gerbavsits, who boasts a 72.93 scoring average that includes a tournament victory this year.
 
UConn, in its third year back in the BIG EAST, won the league crown in 2021 and took third place last year. Graduate student Jared Nelson has been the top performer in the league this year with a 70.68 average to go along with two tournament wins. Junior Jimmy Paradise, who finished third as a freshman, is ranked 10^th and has a 73.10 average. The Huskies are rated fifth.
 
DePaul wants to move up from its ninth-place finish from last year. Grad student Cameron Karney leads the Blue Demons with a 75.00 average. Junior Artemiy Yalovenko is next at 75.96. Sophomore Alex Vekich won the one-day St. Francis Invite. The Blue Demons are sixth in the rankings.
 
Creighton is the seventh seed. New coach Wes Bernt can point to junior Shaun Campbell, who leads the team with a 73.67 scoring average, which includes 10 of 27 rounds at par or better. Junior Charlie Zielinski, who finished third at last year’s Championship, is right behind Campbell with a 73.85 mark. In 75 rounds at Creighton, Zielinski has never shot higher than 79. No Creighton players in school history own better career averages than Zielinski (73.25) or Campbell (73.50).
 
Xavier, which finished seventh last year and is eighth going into this year’s Championship, has been led by freshman Carson Bellish, who has compiled a 74.22 average. He has four top-15 finishes, all in the spring season, and is the third highest ranked freshman in the league. The Musketeers return all five golfers who participated in last year’s Championship.
 
Georgetown is positioned ninth. The Hoyas, who took fifth place in last year’s Championship, depend on senior David Rogers (74.33) sophomore Max Hutter (74.58) and senior Pieter DeGroot (75.11).
 
Villanova is slotted for 10th by GolfStat. Junior Peter Weaver and freshman Ryan Pamer have been the anchors for the Wildcats. Weaver is ranked third and sports an average of 71.87 with one tournament win. He tied for eighth in last year’s Championship. Pamer, who is the highest rated freshman this year, is ranked fifth overall with a 72.26 average.