WKU Men’s Golf head coach Chan Metts and Women’s Golf head coach Adam Gary announced their respective schedules for the upcoming 2021-22 season on Thursday morning.

The men’s golf program is scheduled to compete in nine regular-season tournaments whereas the women’s golf program has eight tournaments booked. Both programs will also compete in their respective Conference USA Championships in April.

“We are really looking forward to this season,” Metts said in a press release. “We will begin practice on Aug. 18, and I’m really excited about the new guys we have to add to our returning roster.”

For the second year in a row, Hilltopper Golf will kick off its season at the Jim Rivers Intercollegiate, hosted by Louisiana Tech. The Choudrant, La. based event will be played Sept. 12-14. The Hilltoppers are scheduled to stay in the C-USA family and play in the Graeme McDowell Invitational hosted by UAB on Sept. 27-28.

The WKU Men’s Golf program also added a new tournament to its slate as the Hilltoppers are scheduled to compete in the Georgia State Invitational, which will be played in Duluth, Ga. on Oct. 11 and 12.

This will be the fifth out of the last seven seasons that WKU has competed in the Pinetree Intercollegiate, which is hosted by Kennesaw State. The mid-October tournament has been a staple on WKU’s schedule, finishing third in 2018 and fifth in 2019 under Metts. The Hilltoppers will round out the fall season with the Battle at Black Creek hosted by Chattanooga on Oct. 25-26.

“We’ll start our season at Squire Creek again this year and it will be a large field,” Metts said. “It will be nice to return to Georgia State and Kennesaw State where we have some history. UAB’s event isn’t new to us, but it will be a new venue this year. Black Creek is new as well, so we’ll give a little more focus to those practice rounds.”

For the sixth straight year, the Hilltoppers will begin their spring season at the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate. The competition is co-hosted by South Alabama and the Mobile Bay Sports Authority and will be played Feb. 14-15. WKU will then play in the Auburn’s Tiger Invitational on March 6-8.

WKU will go on to play at the ECU Intercollegiate on March 21-22 and play close to home at the Mason Rudolph Championship hosted by Vanderbilt on Apr. 1-3. The last time the Hilltoppers competed at Vanderbilt in 2019, the team finished tied for fourth out of 17 programs and Billy Tom Sargent took home the individual title.

For the fifth consecutive year under head coach Adam Gary, The Lady Toppers will be opening their season at the USA Intercollegiate, hosted by South Alabama. The competition will commence over Labor Day Weekend on Sept. 4-6 to begin the 2021-22 season.

During the 2020-21 season, WKU won the USA Intercollegiate, marking the first team collegiate tournament and victory since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The win also logged Gary’s eighth win at the helm, capturing a new program record in head coach wins.

The Lady Toppers will then travel to the Lady Paladin Collegiate hosted by Furman on Sept. 24-26. The team will also return to play in the Pat Bradley Invitational hosted by FIU. WKU played in the invite in 2016 and 2017 and will tee off on Oct. 16 in Miami.

For the first time in Lady Topper history, WKU is scheduled to co-host the Olde Stone Intercollegiate with Louisville on Oct. 25-26. This will be the first time that the WKU Women’s Golf program has hosted a full intercollegiate tournament in the Commonwealth under Coach Gary. The home event will conclude the fall schedule for the Lady Toppers.

“We are very excited to host a full field event with Louisville at Olde Stone this fall,” Gary said in a press release. “Our spring event with them was such a success, we decided to expand the field and offer fans and members more to watch. This will be a great preview for the 2022 USGA Girls Championship coming to the club next year. Plus, it’s always nice to have a home game.”

WKU will co-host the First Coast Classic with North Florida to kick off the spring slate. The tournament is set to begin on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. WKU will also compete in the UNF Collegiate for the sixth consecutive season beginning on March 7.

The sixth annual Spring Break Shootout, co-hosted by WKU and FGCU, will be played March 14- 15 in Dade City, Fla. The Lady Toppers will conclude the regular season at the Pirate Collegiate Classic hosted by ECU on April 4-5 before competing in the Conference USA Championship on April 18-20.

Sports reporter Drew Toennies can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @drew_toennies.