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Austin Peay State University Men’s Golf will need to rally to retain title at F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate

Austin Peay State University Governors Sports - APSUClarksville, TN – Austin Peay State University men’s golf team will need a furious rally on the final day of competition if it wants to retain the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate title for the third consecutive year. After two rounds at the Links at Novadell, Austin Peay sits in third place, behind Belmont and Eastern Kentucky.

Austin Peay Men's Golf. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Men’s Golf. (APSU Sports Information)

The Govs 10-under par 566 (285-281) is nine shots better than their two-round scores at last season’s event, which Austin Peay led after the second round.

However, this year that score through two rounds finds them eight shots back of Eastern Kentucky (558) and 11 shots behind leader Belmont (555).

“Teams were able to score in these conditions today,” said head coach Kirk Kayden. “The greens were rolling good and the wind was down. Our guys played okay, not terrible and not great. That’s kind of been the theme of our fall – we haven’t had that one ‘wow’ round that we usually have.

Marco Iten“Hats off to Belmont and EKU though – those are just good scores. I didn’t expect to be third at 10-under.”

Senior Marco Iten (72-68) and sophomore Austin Kramer (71-69) lead the Govs after two rounds of play with matching 140’s. Iten recovered from his slow start to shoot Austin Peay’s best round of the day in Round Two, with seven birdies offset only by one triple-bogey on the 16th hole.

Kramer was the only Gov under par in both rounds, helped by closing out both rounds with birdies on hole No. 17 and 18.

Austin Kramer“Austin had another great day,” Kayden said. “That’s three in a row where he’s had a good 36-hole start. The biggest thing for him now is to finish the round.”

Austin Peay found itself in third place after opening-round action at three-under par, behind Belmont (-10) and Lipscomb (-4). The Govs were led through the first 18 holes by senior Anthony Bradley’s 70, highlighted by birdies on holes eight, nine and 12 in the opening round. Bradley, battling back soreness, shot a 74 in the second round, tied for 24th alongside senior Trey Tarpley.

Anthony BradleyTarpley recovered from a slow start in Round One (73) by birdieing 14-15-16 to give himself a one-under 71 in the second round. His birdie on No. 14 was one of just 11 recorded through the first two rounds.

Sophomore Chris Baker rounded out the Govs first five, shooting a one-over par 145 (72-73) with three birdies and four bogeys in two rounds.

“We’re capable of shooting what some of these other teams shot today,” Kayden said. “We can go 14, 15 under if we get these guys going in the right direction. If the weather gets rough tomorrow, and we play well in hard conditions like we’ve done all fall, we could pick up some shots that way.”

The Govs second team was led by sophomore Korey Smith, who shot a two-over par 146 (75-71) and helped the Govs second squad to 12th after two rounds.

Final-round action begins Tuesday with an 8:30am shotgun start. The final round start time was moved up due to impending weather concerns.

Box Score

F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate
The Links at Novadell | Hopkinsville, KY
Dates: October 14th – 15th

Finish School – Players Round 1 Round 2 Totals
3 Austin Peay State University 285 281 566
T 7 Marco Iten (2) 72 68 140
T 7 Austin Kramer (5) 71 69 140
T 24 Anthony Bradley (1) 70 74 144
T 24 Trey Tarpley (4) 73 71 144
T 37 Chris Baker (3) 72 73 145
87 Oliver Dickson 88 84 172
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