The University of Kentucky men?s golf team returns to action this week, May 18-20, when it heads to the NCAA Central Region in Chardon, Ohio. This is the third straight trip to the Central for the Cats who tied for fourth at the Central a season ago before finishing a school-best seventh at the NCAA Championships.

The Wildcats, who are ranked 22nd in the nation, will play the 54-hole tournament at the Sand Ridge Golf Course. Named the 52nd best golf course in America by Golf Digest in 2005, the Tom Fazio-designed Sand Ridge will play as a 7,173 yard, par 71 (35-36), with the sixth hole being converted from a par 5 to a 485 yard par 4.

Kentucky earned the seventh seed behind No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Georgia Tech, No. 3 Texas A&M, No. 4 Clemson, No. 5 Duke and No. 6 Texas. Tulsa, Northwestern and Minnesota round out the top 10. The tournament?s top 10 finishers and two individuals not on advancing teams advance to the NCAA Championships, May 31-June 3, in Sunriver, Oregon.

Senior Matt Kohn is the lone player returning from last season?s squad. The Longwood, Fla., native will be joined this week by junior Tyler Wilson, sophomore Brad Doster and freshmen Andy Winings and Dan Woltman.

?This is perhaps the most challenging and fun tournament of the year because of what is at stake,? said fifth-year head coach Brian Craig. ?We are prepared to play our best and hopefully it will be good enough to advance to the NCAA finals in Oregon.?

The Cats are scheduled to tee off at 12:17 p.m. on Thursday. Live scoring will be available at ukathletics.com.