Eagles Looking for Gold at MAC Championships

2026 MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Date	Sunday-Tuesday, May 3-5, 2026
Info Hub	EMU Notes (pdf) \| Andy Walker Interview
Info Hub	MAC Championships Page
Venue	The Club at Holliday Frams \| Zionsville, Ind. \| Par: 71 \| Yards: 7,349
Live	Live Scoring (Scoreboard)
Social Media	EMU_Golf (X) \| Ea sternMichiganMensGolf (Instagram)

ZIONSVILLE, Ind. (EMUEagles.com) — The Eastern Michigan University men's golf team will open postseason play this weekend as the Eagles are set to compete in the 2026 Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championships, May 3-5, at The Club at Holliday Farms in Zionsville, Ind. Eastern is one of nine teams looking to capture conference crowns on the par-71, 7,349-yard course in the Hoosier State with the team champion earning an automatic berth in the 2026 NCAA Regionals, May 18-20, at to be announced sites.

THIS WEEK'S LINE UP
Here are the Eagles that will compete at the 2026 MAC Championships:
1. Charlie Box (Jr.) • 71.1 avg. | #272 | 4x MAC Golfer of the Week... Medalist at West Bay & Muirfield events
2. Leo Mihaich (Sr.) • 74.1 avg. | #685 | Finished T8th in Houston for 26th career top 10 finish (1st with EMU)
3. Robby Turnbull (Fr.) • 72.2 avg. | #405 | 2x MAC Golfer of the Week... best of T6th at Hall Williams Collegiate
4. Joshua Hess (Fr.) • 72.7 avg. | #610 | 1x MAC Golfer of the Week... T10th at the Pearl at Kalauao Invite in Hawai'i
5. Tim Chan (Sr.) • 72.4 avg. | #685 | Placed third at the All-American Individual in Houston
ALT Rory McDonald-O'Brien (Sr.) • 74.3 avg. | #1,212 | 2025 MAC Runner-Up... T27th at Muirfield Shootout

CHIP INS
» Eastern last competed in the inaugural Muirfield Shootout (April 20) in Dublin, Ohio, where the Eagles tied for second with Michigan State and Miami while Kent State took the title by one stroke in the 36-hole, single-day event. Charlie Box shared medalist honors with Miami's Liam Nelson to lead the way for Eastern.
» Charlie Box was named the MAC Golfer of the Week (April 24) for the fourth time this season after sharing the title at the Muirfield Shootout. Box, who shot 3-under 141, posted birdies on his final three holes to earn the tie.
» With his fourth award, Charlie Box leads the way for the Eagles in weekly awards this season as the team has collected a program-record seven honors. Robby Turnbull earned the honor twice and Joshua Hess once. The seven honors earned are the most of any school in the conference this season and are the most in a single season since the records were kept (2001-02), surpassing the four awards earned in 2006-07, 2008-09, and 2021-22.
» As a team, the Eagles are currently ranked No. 98 in the Scoreboard/Clippd rankings (April 30), the second-highest the team has been ranked in the Scoreboard/Clippd era. Individually, Charlie Box leads the way for Eastern at No. 272 this week while Robby Turnbull is ranked No. 405. Joshua Hess is No. 610 while Tim Chan (No. 637) and Leo Mihaich (No. 685) are just behind him. Rory McDonald-O'Brien is No. 1,212 this week.
» Eastern will play in the MAC Championships for the 54th time with the first coming in 1973. The Eagles have placed among the top three in the team standings 14 times, including capturing titles at the 2007, 2008, and 2019 events, while finishing as the runner-up six times.
» Individually, Eastern has captured the MAC Championship once when Graham Hill took medalist honors at the 2007 tournament. The program has seen four players finish second, including last year when Rory McDonald-O'Brien was the individual runner-up.
» Charlie Box captured medalist honors twice this season, including winning titles at the West Bay Collegiate Invitational (Oct. 6-7) and the Muirfield Shootout (April 20). His win in Estero, Fla., made him the first EMU player to earn medalist honors since Oct. 16-17, 2017, when Beau Breault won the Dayton Flyer Invitational. He is the first multiple-time winner in the same season since the 2006-07 campaign when Graham Hill won back-to-back events to close out the season with his second title coming at the 2007 MAC Championships.
» Vicente Quiroga and Parin Sarasmut, who signed to join the program ahead of the 2026-27 season, competed in the prestigious 2026 Junior Invitational, March 11-14, at the Sage Valley Golf Club in Graniteville, S.C., an event featuring 32 of the top international players in the world. Sarasmut tied for 11th and Quiroga tied for 28th.

MAC HISTORY • TEAM
The 2026 MAC Championships will mark the 79th playing of the event and the 54th with Eastern participation after first playing in the 1973 competition. The first event, which was played in 1947 in Detroit, featured Wayne State winning the title over Butler, Ohio, and Western Reserve). Since joining the league, Eastern has posted 14 finishes in the top 3 of the team standings, including wins at the 2007, 2008, and 2019 events. The Eagles also have finished as runners-up on six occasions with the most recent coming in 2016 while posting five third-place finishes with the most recent coming last year.

MAC HISTORY • INDIVIDUAL
Eight players have finished in the top three at the MAC Championships in Eastern history with Graham Hill the lone medalist after capturing the 2007 crown. The team has seen four players take runner-up honors with Rory McDonald-O'Brien adding his name to the list last year. His finish at the 2025 event marked the 51st time in program history Eastern had a player finish in the top 10.

CURRENT EAGLES IN MAC PLAY
Two of the six Eagles headed to Zionsville have previously played in a MAC Championship event before with Rory McDonald-O'Brien and Tim Chan competing for Eastern last year where they finished second and tied for 13th, respectively. The four making their debuts are Charlie Box, Leo Mihaich, Robby Turnbull, and Joshua Hess.

PREVIOUS CONFERENCE EXPERIENCE
Four Eagles have played in a collegiate conference event previously with four titles won. Leo Mihaich won his previous three conference events, including the 2023 Sooner Athletic Conference title for Oklahoma City before winning back-to-back Lone Star Conference titles for Oklahoma Christian. Charlie Box twice represented Hutchinson College at the Jayhawk Conference Championships and placed fifth in 2024 before winning last year. Rory McDonald-O'Brien, who was the MAC runner-up last year, played in the Peach Belt Championships twice for South Carolina-Aiken as he tied for seventh in 2023 and tied for 16th in 2024 while Tim Chan finished 17th at the 2024 Atlantic 10 Championships for VCU.

TOURNAMENT INFO: THE FACTS • MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
The 2026 MAC Championships will feature three rounds of 18 holes played over three days, May 3-5, with the first set of tee times starting at 9 a.m. each day. The par-71, 7,349-yard course at The Club at Holliday Farms will see the top three teams in the April 30 Scoreboard/Clippd rankings tee off from No. 1 at 9 a.m. with the bottom three teams starting at the same time off No. 10. The three middle-ranked teams will tee off starting at 9:50 a.m. from No. 1. The tee times will stay the same for the final two days with the teams being placed into their times based upon the standings, meaning the top three teams open at 9 a.m. off No. 1, teams in fourth, fifth, and sixth start ta 9:50 a.m. off No. 1, and teams seventh, eighth, and ninth go off No. 1 at 9 a.m.

HOOSIER HAPPENINGS
The 2026 MAC Championships at The Club at Holliday Farms marks the eighth time Eastern will play in the conference tournament in the state of Indiana and the second time in three years after the 2024 event was played in Westfield. The Eagles' best finish in the Hoosier State came in 2009 in Indianapolis and 1981 in Muncie when Eastern finished second overall.

TOURNAMENT INFO: THE FIELD • MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Nine teams will battle for conference gold this weekend, including Ball State, Bowling Green, host Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Miami, Northern Illinois, Ohio, and Toledo.

IN THE RANKINGS • TEAMS (SCOREBOARD) • MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
According to the Scoreboard/Clippd rankings (April 30), Eastern Michigan leads the way for the teams in the MAC at No. 98 this week No. 124 Miami and No. 129 Kent State rounding out the top 130. The remaining teams in the field in ranking order include No. 143 Toledo, No. 149 Northern Illinois, No. 189 Ball State, No. 223 Ohio, No. 258 Central Michigan, and No. 259 Bowling Green.

IN THE RANKINGS • INDIVIDUALS (SCOREBOARD) • MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Individually, no player in the MAC is ranked in the top 200 this week with the closest being Eastern Michigan's Charlie Box at No. 272. Based on the April 30 rankings, the top five players in the MAC are Box, No. 348 Isaiah Ibit (Kent State), No. 405 Robby Turnbull (EMU), No. 430 Bence Kotel (Toledo), and No. 480 Bence Bertenyi (Toledo).

EAGLE RANKINGS
Eastern remained at No. 98 this week, tying for its second-highest ranking of the season behind the No. 94 ranking received March 18 and the No. 98 position achieved March 25 and April 20. Individually, five Eagles are once again among the national top 700 with No. 272 Charlie Box leading the way. He is followed by Robby Turnbull at No. 405, Joshua Hess at No. 610, Tim Chan at No. 637, and Leo Mihaich at No. 685.

REVIEW: 2025 MAC CHAMPIONSHIPS
Rory McDonald-O'Brien finished as the runner-up at the 2025 Mid-American Conference Men's Golf Championships to lead the Eastern Michigan team to a third-place showing at Pinnacle Golf Club in Grove City, Ohio. The team's finish marked the 14th top three showing in program history and EMU's first since 2019.

As a team, Eastern finished third at 8-over 872 (285-276-311) with No. 78 Kent State taking the title at 10-under 854 and Ball State, the 2024 championships, capturing second place at 6-over 870. The top five was rounded out by fourth-place Northern Illinois, who shot 11-over 875, and No. 96 Miami, who was fifth at 15-over 879.

The Eagles' third-place finish marked its best since winning the 2019 crown and marked the 14th time it placed in the top three at the MAC Championships. Eastern, a three-time champion, secured its fifth, third-place showing to go along with six runner-up finishes. Overall, the 872 strokes recorded are the fewest for the program at the MAC event in the 54-hole era and marked the fourth consecutive year the team has lowered the record, including its 10-stroke improvement over the 882 shot last year.

Individually, McDonald-O'Brien finished 5-over 211 (69-65-77) to take second place with No. 95 Jordan Gilkison of Kent State earning medalist honors by shooting 8-under 208. The runner-up finish is the best by an EMU player since 2016 when Kyle Rodes tied for second and stands as just the fifth top two showing in program history. His 211 strokes also stand as the best score by an EMU player at the MAC Championships, surpassing the 216 shots by Cam Kellett in 2023 when he tied for fifth place.

LAST TIME OUT: MUIRFIELD SHOOTOUT
Charlie Box used a barrage of birdies over his final three holes to tie for the individual title and help Eastern to a tie for second place at the inaugural The Muirfield Shootout, a single-day, 36-hole event at the Country Club at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, April 20. The event, which featured six teams from the MAC, was played on the par-72, 7,068-yard course designed by the legendary Jack Nicklaus.

Kent State took the team title with a score of 3-over 579 to edge a trio of teams that tied for second place at 4-over 580, including No. 98 EMU (288-292), No. 71 Michigan State, and tournament host Miami. No. 93 Xavier was fifth at 6-over 582.

Individually, Box captured a share of his second tournament title this season and the seventh of his career as he powered his way home with birdies on his final three holes to climb into a share of medalist honors with Miami's Liam Nelson. Box, who shot 3-under 141 (70-71=141), posted the fifth-best two-round score in program history while becoming only the third member of the program since the start of the 2000-01 season to capture multiple titles for the Eagles while becoming the first since the 2006-07 season to win multiple times in the same season, joining Graham Hill on the list after he won the FirstEnergy Intercollegiate one week before claiming the 2007 MAC Championship.

Box led a charge of three individuals finishing in the top 20 for the second consecutive tournament as Tim Chan tied for 11th at 1-over 145 (72-73) while Robby Turnbull tied for 18th after shooting 3-over 147 (71-76). Chan posted his second-best finish of the year and his fourth top 20 showing of the season while Turnbull registered his fifth top 20.

BOX EARNS FOURTH HONOR
Charlie Box was named the MAC Golfer of the Week, April 24, after he captured a share of his second tournament title this season and the seventh of his career as he powered his way home with birdies over his final three holes to climb into a share of medalist honors at the inaugural Muirfield Shootout. Box, who shot 3-under 141 (70-71=141), posted the fifth-best two-round score in program history while becoming only the fourth member of the program to capture multiple tournament titles for the Eagles in the same season and first since the 2006-07 season when Graham Hill won the FirstEnergy Intercollegiate one week before claiming the 2007 MAC Championship.

MAKING HISTORY
Charlie Box is the first member of the program to earn MAC Golfer of the Week honors four times in a single season after his third honor had tied him with Cam Burke (2009-10 season) and Graham Hill (2006-07) for the single-season record. Additionally, he became one of four Eastern players to earn four career weekly awards from the MAC, joining Burke, Hill, and Christopher Ross, who earned his during the 2005-06 (one), 2006-07 (one), and 2008-09 (two) seasons. Overall, the honor for Box was the 49th earned by an Eastern player since the start of the 1999-00 season.

EASTERN HONORED
Along with the four awards Charlie Box has earned, three Eagles have combined to capture seven weekly honors from the MAC in 2025-26 with Robby Turnbull earning two and Joshua Hess one. After Box was honored three times in the fall, including Oct. 3, Oct. 10, and Nov. 7, Turnbull earned a pair in the early portion of the spring schedule with his honors coming Feb. 20 and March 27. Hess followed with his honor earned on April 10. Overall, the seven awards earned this year are three more than the previous record of four earned by players on the 2006-07, 2008-09, 2009-10, and 2021-22 squads. Additionally, the 10 awards earned in the two seasons under Head Coach Andy Walker (2024-25 and 2025-26) equal the total number of honors secured in the six seasons prior to his arrival.

HESS NAMED MAC GOLFER OF THE WEEK
Joshua Hess posted his fifth top 20 finish of the season while finishing at or under par for the tournament for the sixth time as he placed 14th at the Calusa Cup after shooting 214 over three rounds to earn MAC Golfer of the Week honors for the first time in his career, April 10. His score marked the fourth time this year he has shot 214 to tie for his third-best 54-hole score with only his 206 at the Hal Williams Collegiate (Feb. 16-17) and his 213 at the Whirlwind Collegiate Invitational (Sept. 8-9) bettering those scores. Additionally, he shot at or below par in all three rounds for the third tournament this year to lead the Eagles in Florida.

MEDALIST HONORS
The victory by Charlie Box at the West Bay Collegiate Invitational (Oct. 6-7) marked the first by an EMU player since the 2017-18 season when Beau Breault captured the Dayton Flyer Invitational, Oct. 16-17, 2017. Since the start of the 2000-01 season, nine different Eagles have combined to capture 15 titles with Box' win snapping a nearly eight-year long drought for the program in the winner's circle. The previous drought was three-and-one-half years as Kyle Rodes' victory at the Loyola Intercollegiate (Feb. 25-27, 2017) halted the streak following Stuart Grehan's win at the Firestone Invitational (Oct. 7-8, 2013). By winning a share of The Muirfield Shootout (April 20), Box became the first Eastern player to record multiple titles in the same season since Graham Hill in 2006-07.

GOOD TO BE BELOW AVERAGE
As a team, the Eagles currently hold a four-player average of 287.1, which is the lowest in program history by 2.0 strokes, surpassing the previous record of 289.1 set in 2018-19. As it stands, this year's team average, should it hold, would be one of just two to finish below 290 as the 2016-17 team broke the record with its 290.4 average (9,875 strokes, 34 rounds).

LOGGING MILES
The Eagles once again spread their wings and played in tournaments in 11 different states in 2025-26, including five of the six time zones across the United States. In the fall, Eastern played in tournaments in Arizona, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Michigan, and New Mexico before taking part in events in Alabama, California, Florida, Indiana, Ohio, and Texas during the spring season.

ON THE HORIZON
The next event on the schedule is the 2026 NCAA Regionals, which will be held May 18-20 at six sites, including Athens, Ga., Bermuda Run, N.C., Bryan, Texas, Columbus, Ohio, Corvallis, Ore., and Marana, Ariz. Should the Eagles win the 2026 MAC Championship, they will automatically earn a berth into one of the six regions. If Eastern does not win the title, the Eagles will hope to hear their name called on the 2026 NCAA Men's Golf Selection Show, May 6 at 2 p.m. on Golf Channel.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Charlie Box

Tim Chan

Joshua Hess

Rory McDonald-O'Brien

Leo Mihaich

Robby Turnbull

Eastern Michigan Athletics