Corey Matthey qualified for the NAIA Men’s Golf National Championship as a freshman.

Corey Matthey, a freshman from Sergeant Bluff, Iowa, will compete in the 2017 NAIA Men’s Golf National Championship that will take place Tuesday to Friday, May 16-19, at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill.

Matthey, the 2017 Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Men’s Golfer of the Year, earned his national tournament berth as this year’s GPAC medalist. He is one of 11 individual qualifiers in the 156-player, 29-team field.

Matthey won this year’s GPAC individual championship with a 72-hole score of 18-over par 302 at the GPAC Fall and Spring Qualifier tournaments for a three-stroke victory margin over runner-ups Tom Hogg of Dakota Wesleyan University and Joe Vest of Midland University.

Matthey is the second GPAC individual champion in Morningside history, joining two-team NAIA All-American Brandon Thompson, the 2012 GPAC individual champion and a two-time third-team NAIA All-American.

Matthey is the third golfer in Morningside history to qualify for the NAIA National Championship as an individual. The Mustangs’ previous individual qualifiers were Justin Hamilton in 2007 and Thompson in 2012.

Matthey was a model of consistency for the Mustangs throughout the 2016-17 season. He had a 74.6-stroke scoring average during Morningside’s fall season and led the team with a 74.6-stroke average during the spring. His low round of the season was a two-under par 70 on April 12 in the first round of the Briar Cliff University Invitational.

Matthey recently won the Elk Point Early Bird tournament in Elk Point, S.D., when he carded a 27-hole score of one-under par 107. Matthey also won last year’s Elk Point Early Bird tourney along with the River Cade Amateur and Jividen Cup tournaments on his way to 2016 Siouxland Player of the Year honors. Matthey won the 2015 Sioux City Men’s City Championship following his junior year at Sergeant Bluff-Luton High School to become the youngest winner in the history of the tournament.

Oklahoma City University is the pre-tournament favorite as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation and the defending national champion. The Stars, who have won three of the last five national championships and 10 titles overall, return first-team NAIA All-Americans Rupert Kaminski and Matthew Cheung.

Texas Wesleyan University’s David Ravetto, a sophomore from Paris, France, is the defending individual champion after he won last year’s NAIA Individual National Championship with a 72-hole score of three-under par 281.

The tournament field will be cut to the top 17 teams and 40 individuals after 54 holes. Matthey will attempt to become the Mustangs’ first golfer to survive the 54-hole cut. Dave Young came the closest to making the cut when he was in 41st place through 54 holes when the Mustangs qualified as a team for the 2010 event.