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HomeSportsAustin Peay State University Men's Golf sits in Eighth at OVC Tournament

Austin Peay State University Men’s Golf sits in Eighth at OVC Tournament

APSU Sports Information

APSU Men's GolfMuscle Shoals, AL – Merely two shots into Chase Korte‘s day—the freshman was the final Austin Peay State University men’s golfer to tee off at the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Championships—the skies opened up, lightning struck and so began a delay that no doubt at least in part alter the trajectory of Day One for the Governors.

It’s safe to say the Govs were thrown for a bit of a loop early into their tournament stay.

Austin Peay Men's Golf had to deal with bad weather in round one of the OVC Tournament, Monday. (APSU Sports Information)
Austin Peay Men’s Golf had to deal with bad weather in round one of the OVC Tournament, Monday. (APSU Sports Information)

“It might’ve messed up our rhythm, but it didn’t affect our play,” Wilson said post-round. “We made too many bogeys early and didn’t make a lot of putts today. Recently we’d made a lot of birdies to offset some bad holes but couldn’t get anything going today on the greens.”

Following the end of the first day of competition, the Govs were tied for eighth with Tennessee State, but are less than four shots out of the top-five and a mere 13 shots back from tournament-leading Jacksonville State.

At least part of this performance can be attributed to the solid back-nine play of a trio of players. After the early-morning delays left the Govs with some catching up to do, freshman Chase Korte and sophomores Alex Vegh and Michael Busse combined to shoot even-par on the back nine—the trio sank seven of Austin Peay’s 12 birdies over the final nine holes, including four over the final three to close the day on a strong note.

Austin Peay’s par-3 shooting led the field, as the Govs averaged 2.95 strokes per hole; conversely, the Govs look to tighten up their par-4 game, which averaged 4.32/holes, ahead of only Murray State and Eastern Illinois.

Korte sits in a tie for 15th overall with an opening-round 73, while Vegh and Busse fired matching 74s and are just outside the top-20 in a tie for 22nd. Each of the trio made their mark somewhere along the way; Korte’s 2.50/hole average on par-3 holes is tied for the best among all players, while Busse’s four birdies tied him for fifth overall and Vegh was Austin Peay’s leader on par-4 offerings at 4.10/hole.

Hole No. 13 was a good one to the Govs; of the six birdies recorded on the 184-yard par-3, half belonged to Austin Peay, with Korte, Vegh and sophomore Austin Lancaster all going under-par on the hole. Lancaster and freshman Garrett Whitfield both shot 78 on the day, with Whitfield chipping in with a team-best 11 pars.

With 36 holes remaining, the Govs know that time will be of the essence but that they are by no means sunk after the first day of competition.

“Hopefully we can carry the momentum of the back nine into tomorrow,” Wilson said. “If we can get back to even par, we’ll have a chance. Our goal is to be in contention going into the back nine on Wednesday. There’s still a lot of golf left, but there’s more of a sense of urgency now.”

Second-round action at the 2018 OVC Men’s Golf Championships is scheduled to kick off at 8:50am, Tuesday, on the Fighting Joe course at the Robert Trent Jones at the Shoals. The Govs will be paired with Tennessee State and Eastern Kentucky.

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