BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's golf team concludes its fall season when it competes at the Steelwood Collegiate, set for Saturday and Sunday at the Steelwood Country Club in Loxley, Alabama.
 
The 12 teams in the field are slated to play 36 holes on Saturday and 18 on Sunday on the 7,096-yard, par-72 layout.
 
"We are looking forward to the tournament. It's one of the best ones we play in all year," LU coach Jessie Mudd said. "The course, the hospitality and the competition is all first class."
 
The Cardinals, who are coming off an eighth-place finish at the Camden Collegiate Invitational, face a tough task this weekend. The tournament field includes top-ranked Alabama and eighth-ranked Kentucky, where Mudd served as an assistant coach before taking over the reins of the Cardinals in 2015.
 
Other teams in the field are UAB, Kennesaw State, Liberty, Rice, Richmond, Southern Mississippi, Troy Wofford and the host school, Southern Alabama. Kennesaw State won last year's tournament with a 27-under-par 837 for three rounds. The Cardinals finished sixth at last year's event.
 
Cody Banach, who tied for ninth at the Camden Collegiate with a 6-over 216 for 54 holes, will tee off from the No. 1 spot for the Cardinals this weekend. The rest of the LU lineup for the tourney consists of Sam Dumez, Eason Wang, Garett James and Nikolai Schaffrath.
 
Following this weekend's tourney, the Cardinals don't return to competition until Feb. 16, when they open the spring season at the All-American Intercollegiate in Humble, Texas.