By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications

SALEM, Ore. -- The Willamette University men's golf team is set to battle for the Northwest Conference Championship when the 2022 NWC Tournament is played this weekend at Creekside Golf Club. The 36-hole event, worth one-half of the overall NWC Championship, will be hosted by the Bearcats on Saturday, April 23 and Sunday, April 24.

Each year, the NWC men's golf championship features three tournaments -- the NWC Fall Classic, the NWC Spring Classic, and the NWC Tournament. The Fall Classic and the Spring Classic have already been completed and were each worth one-fourth of the title.

Willamette leads the conference standings entering this weekend. The Bearcats won the NWC Fall Classic and placed second at the NWC Spring Classic. Whitworth University holds second place overall after finishing second at the NWC Fall Classic and taking third at the NWC Spring Classic. Pacific Lutheran University is in third place in the overall standings with fifth place at the Fall Classic and first place at the Spring Classic.

If Willamette wins the NWC Tournament, the Bearcats will claim the overall NWC Championship. A win by Whitworth with Willamette in second place would force a playoff between the Bearcats and the Pirates. Other scenarios are possible, but Willamette and Whitworth are the only teams that can win the title without help from other squads.

Austin Davis (Sr., Culver City, CA/Culver City HS) and Andrew Kibbee (Sr., Kenmore, WA/Bothell HS), both from Willamette tied for first place with scores of 7-under par 137 through 36 holes during the NWC Fall Classic at Quail Valley Golf Course in Banks, Oregon. Davis edged out Kibbee on the first playoff hole by shooting a 1-under 4 on the 10th hole. Alex Weirth (Sr., Port Orchard, WA/Crosspoint Academy) of Willamette tied for sixth.

At the NWC Spring Classic, Davis and Kibbee tied for second place with scores of 1-over par 146. Weirth finished in a tie for eighth place at 150.

Competing for Willamette at the NWC Tournament will be Davis, Kibbee, and Weirth, along with Paxton Jones (Fy., Wellington, NZ/Scots College) and Riley Lankford (Sr., Pilot Rock, OR/Pilot Rock HS). Willamette won the NWC Championship and qualified for the NCAA Men's Golf Championship in 2019 and 2021.

The Bearcats will be teeing off for the first round on Saturday at the 10th hole, starting with Davis at 9:50 a.m. (PDT). Kibbee will tee off at 10 a.m., followed by Weirth at 10:10 a.m., Jones at 10:20 a.m., and Lankford at 10:30 a.m.