CINCINNATI, Ohio - The Mark McEntire era of Middle Tennessee men's golf officially gets underway Monday as the Blue Raiders begin play in the Bearcat Invitational hosted by Cincinnati.

The tournament will take place at the Par 71, 7,150-yard Coldstream Country Club with 36 holes being played on Monday followed by the final 18 on Tuesday.

In addition to host Cincinnati, Middle Tennessee is joined in the field by Akron, Arkansas, Kentucky, McNeese State, Miami (Ohio), Ohio State, Penn State, Western Kentucky and Xavier.

The event features a play six, count four format that allows McEntire to test out some new faces in the Blue Raider lineup as veterans Marcus Byrd and Ilari Saulo are out with injury.

Upperclassmen James Beckner, Graham Gosselin and Tanner Owens will be joined by three freshmen in Cincinnati in Ryan Hines, Palmer Sadlowski and Jake Marvelli. Fellow freshman Josh Morris will also make the trip and compete as an individual.

This is a great way to start tge season with a format in which we have six players and get to count the four low scores every day," McEntire said. "I am excited to see this team play!"

Middle Tennessee will tee off in an 7:45 CT shotgun start on holes 5-9 Monday at Coldstream Country Club.

Live scoring for Monday's rounds can be followed at Golfstat.com.