The theme for a couple of teams and a couple of players at this year’s PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship (PWCC), taking place in metro Birmingham, is simple: Do it again.

That’s because both defending Division I team champions and the low medalists in the division return to defend their crowns at the 2023 PWCC, a 54-hole stroke-play event in its 36th year. The competition kicked off today at the Shoal Creek Club in Shelby County and Bent Brook Golf Course in Bessemer.

This year’s edition features a competitive lineup of 29 teams representing Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Hispanic-serving institutions and other minority-serving educational institutions from across the country. Alabama Power is among the event’s sponsors.

NBC Sports will provide live broadcast coverage for the first time in the PWCC’s history on the Golf Channel and Peacock. Golf Channel and Peacock will air all three championship rounds at Shoal Creek Club on Monday through Wednesday from 3:30-6:30 p.m. central time. PGA.com will also stream the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship live during the three tournament days.

The 197-player field is divided into five divisions – Division I Men, Division II Men, Women’s Team, Individual Men and Individual Women. The individual divisions feature 52 competitors representing 44 programs.

The nation’s top golfers from diverse educational institutions are in Birmingham for the PGA WORKS Collegiate Championship. (Butch Dill / PGA of America)

Howard University is the defending Division I men’s champion, and it is coming off a second-place finish in the Northeast Conference championship. Its top performer, Greg Odom Jr., finished tied for second in the NEC championship and returns to the PWCC as the two-time defending low medalist. Teammate Everett Whiten Jr., who finished a spot behind Odom for low medalist at last year’s PWCC, finished tied for fourth at the conference championship last week.

If these two can continue their recent run, they will have their say for low medalist again, and Howard will sit in a prime position to win its second consecutive PWCC title in the program’s third year.

On the women’s Division I side, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi looks to defend its back-to-back PWCC championships after a third consecutive fourth-place finish in the Southland Conference Championship two weeks ago. Corpus Christi returns with last year’s low medalist, junior Lucie Charbonnier, who became a three-time all-conference selection last week – her first selection to the first team.

Delaware State and Howard’s women’s team will look to make some noise after finishing second and third, respectively, in the Northeast Conference championship last month. Delaware State finished second to Corpus Christi at last year’s PWCC, and Howard finished fifth.

In Division II, the Miles College men, who won the PWCC division in 2021, are coming off an impressive season in the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SIAC). Coach Leonard Smoot was named coach of the year, junior Phillip Darst was named SIAC player of the year and Jerris Baker was named freshman of the year.

The individual competition is open to all minority women and men student-athletes playing collegiate golf at the Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA and NJCAA levels, or minority women and men enrolled in one of the PGA of America’s PGA Golf Management University Programs.

Miles College President Bobbie Knight, third from left, Alabama Power’s Ralph Williams, fourth from left, and Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, third from right, were among the panelists who spoke Sunday to diverse college golfers from across the nation about developments in the city at the “Beyond the Green” event. (Butch Dill / PGA of America)

On Sunday, the student athletes toured historic sites in Birmingham and participated in “Beyond the Green,” an event at the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex that featured speakers and panelists addressing a variety of issues. Among the panelists discussing developments in the Birmingham region were Mayor Randall Woodfin, Miles College President Bobbie Knight and Ralph Williams, director of Community Engagement for Alabama Power’s Birmingham Division.

For the third year, the Korn Ferry Tour will extend sponsor exemption applications to the top three finishers in the Men’s Division I, Men’s Division II and Men’s Individual Divisions. Those individuals can apply for exemption into the 2023 Price Cutter Charity Championship, July 20-23, at Highland Springs Country Club in Springfield, Missouri.

On the women’s side, Epson Tour exemptions will be available to the top three finishers and ties in the Women’s Team or Individual Divisions for the Guardian Championship, Sept. 15-17, at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Capitol Hill – Senator Course in Prattville. The Guardian Championship Tournament Committee will review applications and award the exemption.

Information for this story was provided by PGA of America.