BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's golf team looks for its second straight tournament title when it competes at the Bayou City Collegiate Classic that gets underway Monday in Pearland, Texas. Meanwhile, LU's Zander Gous looks to continue his hot start after earning medalist honors in each of the first two events the Cardinals have played this fall.
 
The two-day event will see 14 teams competing on the par-72, 7,254-yard layout at the Golfcrest Country Club. The teams are slated to play 36 holes on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday.
 
The Cardinals finished at last season's event, 13 strokes behind the host Houston Cougars, who took advantage of home-course advantage. LU was the top Southland Conference school among the five in the field.
 
Gous placed eighth in last year's tourney. Carding a 1-over-par 217 for 54 holes, six strokes behind Robert MacIntyre of McNeese and Matt Dunn of Houston.
 
Gous is averaging 69.2 strokes per round over five rounds this fall. He opened the campaign with a four-shot victory at the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate with a 9-under-par 207 total for 54 holes helping the Cardinals finish third. He followed that up by sharing medalist honors at the OGIO Utah Invitational last week with a 3-under-par 139 for 36 holes, earning the tie by recording a birdie on his final hole to punctuate LU's team victory.
 
Gous will be in the No. 1 spot for the Cardinals this week. Mans Berglund (71.2) will play in the No. 2 spot for LU, followed by Clay McCrory (74.8), Eason Wang (76.0) and Charlie Flowers (76.0).
 
"I expect my guys to go into this event and play confidently," LU coach Jessie Mudd said. "I don't aim to win, or anything like that. Our focus is to set a game plan and make sure we stick to it. I want them to play smart, play confidently and stick to our plan. If we do that, the end result will take care of itself."
 
The tournament is hosted by Houston, Rice and Sam Houston State. Other teams in the field besides the Cardinals are Abilene Christian, Charleston Southern, Houston Baptist, Kansas, Little Rock, McNeese Nebraska, Texas State, UT Arlington and UTSA.
 
Monday's competition gets underway with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday's round begins at 8 a.m. with split starts off the first and 10^th tees.
 
Admission is free and open to the public.