UNC Wilmington’s club golf team has proven they can compete and win against many renowned Division I schools on courses they have never seen before. Now they will have an opportunity to claim victory on their home turf, as they host their first-ever National Collegiate Club Golf Association tournament in Wilmington.

“We don’t have as much money given to us as other schools, so we wanted to host a tournament to cut down on travel expenses,” said club golf president Matthew Faulkner. “Wilmington also has some of the nicest golf courses available for play and other schools love coming down here, so now they can come down and play in the first NCCGA tournament of the semester.”

The tournament will take place March 5-6 at Cape Fear National at Brunswick Forest in Leland, one of the premier courses in the area. Designed by Tim Cate, Cape Fear National was rated as one of the top 10 new golf courses in the nation by Golf Magazine in 2010.

Club vice president Clint Azor is familiar with head golf pro Ron Thomason at the course and was responsible for setting up the tournament.

“(Thomason) was actually really excited about it,” said Azor. “The tournament is going to bring in a lot of money for him and he was looking forward to having a bunch of college kids from big schools on the course. They host a lot of big events.”

The two-day match is a stroke-play event, with 18 holes being played each day.  Each school represented will travel eight golfers, with the lowest five scores being counted each day as the total team score. The top three teams and the top 10 individuals will receive trophies.

Faulkner said, “We are extremely fortunate to be able to host a tournament for these schools at such a fantastic golf course with a nice clubhouse and great practice facilities.”

UNCW is a member of the Southeast conference within the NCCGA, featuring six ACC schools and three SEC institutions. UNC Chapel Hill, NC State, East Carolina, Wake Forest, Virginia Tech and rival Coastal Carolina are some of the notable teams that will be participating in the tournament.

Coastal Carolina and UNCW have been dueling for the top spot regularly in recent seasons and will be the favorites to win the tournament at Cape Fear National. The stiff competition between the Chanticleers and Seahawks has created a little animosity on both sides.

“We won the National Championship in (fall 2009) and then Coastal Carolina won it in the spring (2010), and we both won all the tournaments in the regular season,” said club member Tyler McPherson. “So we kind of have a rivalry thing going. We can’t stand losing to those guys.”

The golf program is a student-run organization like most clubs on campus. UNCW’s club golf team was started in 2004 by Chris Faulkner, who is now the advisor and is also Matthew Faulkner’s older brother. The club had success its first two years, but when Chris Faulkner walked on to the varsity team in 2006, he had to step down as club president and no one else stepped up to run the club. The program went dormant until Matthew Faulkner arrived at UNCW.

“When I came in as a freshman, the club was basically nonexistent in the eyes of UNCW, because none of the requirements had been met over two years to remain an active club,” said Faulkner. “So I spent an entire semester making up meetings and reports until we could be an active club again.”

The club team struggled to field enough players to take to tournaments after he reinstated the program in 2008. However, the addition of a few members in 2009 put UNCW club golf back on the map.

Instead of having to beg players to come to tournaments, the club began to have so much interest that they had to have qualifying rounds at Wilmington Municipal Golf Course to decide who would travel with the team. The increase in talent on the team led UNCW to its first national championship in the fall of 2009, gaining the recognition of the university and even earning them a dinner invitation in Chancellor Rosemary DePaolo’s home, the Bellamy Mansion.

“It definitely helped put club golf on the radar from students, faculty and even the outside community,” said Faulkner. “We had a guy that played (on the varsity golf team) for UNC Chapel Hill come up to a member three months later to tell him that he heard about us winning the national championship.”

Along with the team’s victory at Independence Country Club in Richmond, VA, a few of the golfers enjoyed individual success, as well. Alex Harris, club treasurer, won individual national champion honors with a two-day score of 146. Azor, Erik Ehlert and Chris Faulkner were also awarded all-tournament honors.

“It was a big honor to be named national champion,” said Harris. “Our club has come a long way and I hope we can start out this season with a win at Cape Fear National and win another national championship as a team this spring.”

NCCGA tournaments are held at some of the most pristine courses in the nation, but this spring’s national championship may top them all. The tournament will be held in April at Firestone Country Club in Ohio, the site of the Bridgestone Invitational, which is a PGA Tour event.

“Our next step towards winning another championship is to figure out how to afford to send eight guys with clubs and all to Ohio for three days,” said Faulkner. “Last time it was an awesome ride for our club and we are looking to win it all again.”