SPOKANE, Wash. - The Whitworth College men's golf team, defending Northwest Conference champions in only its third year of existance, begin defense of the title in earnest this weekend at the NWC Fall Men's Classic.

The tournament will take place at Blue River Golf Course in Tokatee, Oregon on Sunday and Monday. The first tee off is scheduled for Noon each day.

For the first time, the fall tournament will have a direct impact on the conference title. In a restructured scoring system, points will be tallied at the Fall Classic and the Spring Classic, and those points will be added to the NWC Tournament results in April.

The Whitworth men are currently ranked 5th in NCAA Division III by Golfstat, the NCAA's official golf statistics producer. The ranking is based on a solid fall schedule in which the Pirates won three tournaments.

The Pirates have been getting solid performances from accross the board. Andrew Parrott (So., Scottsdale, Ariz.) won medalist honors September 18th at a tournament hosted by Central Washington University. Bobby Elder (Fr., Yakima, Wash.) was the winner at the NWC North tournament featuring Whitworth, Whitman, PLU and UPS with a two round score of 152. Jordan Carter (So., Woodinville, Wash.) finished 6th at the St. Martin's Classic, a large Division II tournament featuring the best teams from the entire west coast. He was also runner up at the Spokane Cup, a three-way event between Whitworth, Gonzaga University and the Community Colleges of Spokane.

Whitworth Golf Schedule / Results

Whitworth Roster