Men’s golf is ready to kick off its season with a challenging tournament on its home course.

The Huskies will host the Northern Intercollegiate at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove starting with a practice round today before continuing with tournament play Friday-Sunday. All rounds begin at 8 a.m.

The Northern Intercollegiate will see the Huskies take on a 13-team field that includes No. 7 Central Florida, No. 10 Houston, No. 11 Virginia and Ohio State.

NIU returns with a more experienced roster than it had last season. In 2013, there was only one upperclassman, Liam White, a junior college transfer. The rest of the lineup was filled out with freshmen. The lack of experience showed as the team placed toward the bottom of every tournament.

Now, the Huskies boast a deeper and more experienced lineup, which head coach Tom Porten said will give them a significant edge as they prepare for a competitive tournament.

“Last year, we only had a roster of six, which gave us no depth,” Porten said. “This season, we have a good blend of youth and experience. We have a good chance to finish well in this tournament. It’s our best chance since we started [the Northern Intercollegiate]. I believe we’ll contend.”

The lineup set for the tournament is markedly different from the lineup featured at the MAC Championship May 4. Sophomore Raphael Denais and White are the only Huskies slated to golf who played in the MAC Championship.

Filling in the other three spots are junior Jordan Wetsch, redshirt junior Nick Huggins and freshman Patrick Murphy. Wetsch is a transfer from Colorado State, while Huggins is returning to the lineup after spending the last two years dealing with hip injuries. Porten said the rest of the team is slated to compete individually.

The tournament will feature some of the Huskies’ strongest competition of the fall season. Porten said facing a field like this early in the season bodes well for how the Huskies will handle other tournaments.

“We have a philosophy: If you want to be the best, you have to play the best,” Porten said. “… It’s good to play some of the top programs because we can use that experience to our advantage. We’re going to be very competitive against the entire field.”

Rich Harvest Farms is the home course for the Huskies. Huggins and Wetsch spent the summer working and caddying at the course, which could give them an edge when it comes to some of the course’s more difficult holes.

“It takes time to learn how to manage” Rich Harvest Farms, Porten said. “All of our players have experience on this course; they know this course.”