KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The Wayland Baptist men's golf team is set to tee off at 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday at the 59th Annual NAIA Men's Golf National Championships at Deere Run in Silvis, Ill.   It is the eighth straight year that the Pioneer men have competed for the national title.

On Wednesday, WBU is scheduled for an 8:24 a.m. start.  Following 54 holes of play, the field will be reduced to the top 17-teams and top-40 individuals (including ties) for the final round on Friday.

Wayland junior Michael Loppnow, a 2009 NAIA 1st team All-American, finished in a tie for tenth place in the individual standings a year ago, earning All-Tournament honors.  The other Pioneers competing for a shot at the national men's title are junior Matthew Webb, sophomore Bradley Sinnett, and freshmen Yohann Vora and Jimmy Lu.  Sinnett is the only other Pioneer with experience at the national championships.

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. The Pioneers were ranked ninth in the final rating.

Seventeen of this year's 29 qualifying teams played in the event a year ago, including defending Wayland, which finished 12th, and 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).

Johnson & Wales (Fla.), Malone (Ohio), Oklahoma City and Texas Wesleyan join Oklahoma Christian as previous national champions. Both Oklahoma City and Texas Wesleyan have won six titles, which is the most among any program. All six of the Stars' championship seasons have recently occurred, winning four in-a-row from 2001-2004 and back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007. Texas Wesleyan's last title came in 1999. Malone won in 2000 and Johnson & Wales finished first in 2005.

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.