K-State Set for The Prestige

MANHATTAN, Kan. – Coming off a third-place finish in its first event of the spring, the Kansas State men's golf team quickly jumps back into action by taking part in The Prestige, Monday through Wednesday, at the par-71, 7,129-yard Greg Norman Course of PGA WEST in La Quinta, California.

This will be the second-straight year the Wildcats will compete in one of the top collegiate tournaments in the country at The Western Home of Golf following tie for fifth place out of 24 teams a year ago.

"The Prestige is a fantastic tournament on a really nice golf course with probably one of the strongest fields that we will play against all year," head coach Grant Robbins said. "The course is pretty demanding tee to green, and the par 5's present a true risk/reward opportunity. We have a quick turnaround from our last event, but the guys are playing well and are excited about the challenge this week."

The 24-team field for the 25th edition of The Prestige includes 11 teams that are ranked in the top 50 of the National Collegiate Golf Rankings in No. 6 North Carolina, No. 15 Pepperdine, No. 23 Texas Tech, No. 31 Northwestern, No. 34 Oregon, No. 35 Louisville, No. 36 Colorado, No. 40 Colorado State, No. 43 Little Rock, No. 45 Stanford and No. 46 Kansas. The rest of the field consists of Baylor, Florida Atlantic, Iowa State, Kansas State, Loyola Marymount, Nevada, Oregon State, Princeton, San Diego, UC Davis, UNC Wilmington, Washington State and Yale.

K-State will send seven players out west in seniors Nicklaus Mason, Ian McCrary, Cooper Schultz and Kobe Valociek in addition to freshmen Fionn Dobbin, Erik Sabelström Holmberg and Tyler Strong. Five of those players will comprise the scoring lineup, while the other two will compete in a separate 41-man individual tournament held at The Golf Club at Terra Lago. A determination of the scoring lineup will be made on Sunday.

Mason and Schultz led the Wildcats in last year's version of The Prestige by tying for 11th place at 6-under par 207 as each scored in the 60s in the first and third rounds. The duo is coming off top-10 showings last week at the Hal Williams Collegiate with Mason tying for sixth place at 8-under par 205 and Schultz finishing one shot back and tied for ninth place.

Both players currently rank in the top 10 in school history in career scoring average as Schultz holds the top spot at 71.81 and Mason ranks third at 72.17. Mason's team-leading scoring average of 70.33 this season currently ranks second in school history, and Schultz's season mark of 71.87 is just outside the top 10.

Last week also saw Valociek record his fourth top-20 showing this season when he tied for 18th place at 4-under par 209 – a season-best 54-hole score – and he enters The Prestige with a 72.20 scoring average this season. Dobbin also recorded a season-best score of 1-under par 212 to tie for 28th place in Mobile, and he currently ranks third on the squad with a 72.00 average. McCrary, who holds a 73.53 average this season, finished his first event of the spring in a tie for 66th place at 7-over par 220.

Strong, who competed as an individual last week, tied for 61st place at 6-over par 219, and he holds a season scoring average of 73.00. Sabelström Holmberg will be competing for the first time this spring. In three fall events, the Stockholm, Sweden, product put together a 73.33 scoring average with his best finish being a tie for 24th place at the season-opening Southern Dunes Invitational.

The Prestige begins Monday with morning and afternoon waves of tee times off Nos. 1 and 10. The Wildcats will begin their first round on Monday at 11 a.m. (PT) on hole No. 10, and K-State is paired with Nevada and Loyola Marymount. Live results can be viewed on SCOREBOARD Powered by Clippd.

– k-statesports.com –

How to follow the Cats: For complete information on K-State Men's Golf, visit www.kstatesports.com and follow the team's social media channels on X (formerly Twitter), Instagram and Facebook.

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Players Mentioned

Fionn Dobbin

Nicklaus Mason

Ian McCrary

Cooper Schultz

Tyler Strong

Kobe Valociek

Kansas State University Athletics