Coyotes Headed to Summit League Men's Golf Championship
SELLERSBURG, Ind. – The South Dakota Men's Golf team will compete in the 2024 Summit League Men's Golf Championship this week. The three-day, three-round event will take place at the Covered Bridge Golf Course in Sellersburg, Indiana, a suburb of Louisville, Kentucky.
The Coyote lineup for this year's event will look different than the one that took seventh place last season. Only two South Dakota golfers will return from that lineup, however, three have experience in past Championships. The Coyotes have a strong history in the event. They finished in the top three every year from 2017 to 2019 and won the title in 2015.
One Coyote who is familiar with the Summit League Championship is Nick LaMotte. The senior is having his best year as a collegian and has finagled his way into the #1 spot in the Coyote lineup after consistently steady play all season. He will be playing in his third Summit League Championship. He finished tied for 38th last season and tied for 16th two years ago.
Another USD golfer who is no stranger to the league tournament is Max Schmidtke. The senior from Wisconsin will be competing in his third Summit League Championship as well. Last season, Schmidtke finished tied for 14th in the competition, after a top ten finish (tied for 9th) in 2022. Schmidtke was named the Summit League Golfer of the Week the last week in February and has been a leader for the USD golf team for several seasons.
Junior Logan Hamak will be competing in his first league championship meet. Hamak has come on strong and become one of the most relied upon golfers on the team this year. Also competing in his first Summit Championship will be freshman Cole Witherow. Witherow emerged out of a very strong and competitive freshman class (that included Parker Etzel, Joe Rohlwing and Ryan Seever) to become a key contributor on a very veteran team this season.
Senior Ryan Neff will also be competing this week. Neff did not compete at the Summit League Championship last year but did in 2022 where he finished tied for 44th. The South Dakota native will look to finish out a strong senior season.
South Dakota has been named the 7-seed in this year's competition. They'll tee off round one between 8am and 8:40am on Sunday. Sellersburg is in the Eastern time zone, so that equates to 7am and 7:40am in Vermillion. Subsequent tee times will be based on team performance. The tournament will feature all nine Summit League men's golf programs. NDSU has been named the top seed in this year's tournament. They are followed by Oral Roberts, Kansas City, SDSU, St. Thomas, Denver, South Dakota, Omaha and North Dakota.
The Championship will be hosted by the Covered Bridge golf course in Sellersburg, Indiana for the first time. While it is located in Indiana, Sellersburg is near Louisville, Kentucky. The area is colloquially known as "Kentuckiana". The course is designed by ten-time PGA Tour winner, and Southern Indiana native, Fuzzy Zoeller along with Clyde Johnston. It cuts through the rolling hills of Southern Indiana. The first round of the Championship will tee off Sunday, while rounds two and three will start Monday and Tuesday.
Live Stats can be found here. Follow @SDCoyotesMGolf on Twitter/X for updates throughout the tournament.
