The Rocky Mountain College men's golf team opens play at the 59th Annual NAIA Men's Golf National Championships Tuesday at Deere Run in Silvis, Ill. First and second round play will tee off from No. 1 at 7 a.m. CDT, followed by a 7:30 a.m. start from No. 10. The afternoon will begin from No. 1 at 12 p.m. and No. 10 at 12:30 p.m. on both days. 

Rocky plays their first match Tuesday morning at 8:15 CDT against Holy Names College. The Bears are the conference tournament champions.

The 156-player championship field is comprised of 21 automatic qualifying teams from NAIA affiliated conferences/unaffiliated groupings and seven at-large selections, which were determined using the final Top 25 rating released on April 30. Saint Ambrose (Iowa) qualified as the host institution.

Seventeen of this year's 29 qualifying teams played in the event a year ago, including defending national champion Oklahoma Christian. The Eagles captured their first men's golf title by carding a 291-298-293-299-1181 to finish four strokes ahead of Texas Wesleyan (299-296-293-297-1185).

Nine individuals, including Connor McCracken of Lewis-Clark State, earned a spot in the event through automatic qualification and two, Lucas Bogdan of Northwood (Texas) and Shorter's (Ga.) Arvid Bengtsson, were at-large selections.

In the event's 59-year history, 36 different programs produced the event's individual medalist, led by Texas Wesleyan with nine. Despite nine individuals claiming victory, it has been 11 years since the last Ram national champion with Chris Gaines winning it all in 1998.