The University of Minnesota men’s golf program announced the participating teams for the 2007 Gopher Invitational. The third annual event will take place at Spring Hill Golf Club in Wayzata, Minn., on Sept. 15-16.

The field features three of the top-25 ranked teams in the final Golf World/NIKE Golf Coaches Assocation poll from last season. Lamar University, who finished in a tie for third in the poll, will join ninth-ranked Minnesota and 23rd-ranked Michigan State at the par 72, 7,020-yard Tom Fazio designed layout. Three other Big Ten teams are in the field with Illinois and Wisconsin making their Gopher Invitational debuts along with Indiana who is playing its third Gopher Invite. In addition, Notre Dame, SMU and Georgia Southern return for their third straight year. Rounding out the field are Arkansas, Princeton and San Diego, all making their first showing at the Invite.

In its short tenure, the Gopher Invitational has been an excellent barometer of future success in that season’s NCAA Championships. Minnesota won the inaugural Gopher Invitational in 2005 and went on to finish third in the 2006 NCAA Championships the next spring. The Stanford Cardinal edged the Gophers in last year’s event and finished last season winning the NCAA Championship in June.

The event is free to the public with 36 continuous holes of play on Saturday beginning with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Sunday’s final round tee times will begin at 8 a.m.