Austin Peay Lady Govs Golf to play in EKU Colonel Classic this weekend

APSU Sports: Austin Peay Women’s Golf

Richmond, KY – Austin Peay State University women’s golf team will be a part of a 13-team field this weekend at the EKU Colonel Classic at the Arlington Club.

The two-day, 54-hole event (36 holes Friday, 18 Saturday) will be played on a 5,809-yard, par-72 natural hill layout at Arlington. The golfers will be greeted with zoysia fairways, fescue bluegrass roughs and bent grass tees and greens. It will begin with a shotgun start, 7:30am (CDT), Friday.

In addition to the Lady Govs, the 12 other teams in the 19th annual event are:  Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Dayton, Eastern Kentucky (Maroon), Eastern Kentucky (White), Ferris State, Morehead State, Ohio, Tennessee State, Toledo and Western Kentucky.

This will be the Lady Govs second tourney this week. They finished fourth at the Belmont Invitational, Monday and Tuesday. Injuries and illness have plagued the Lady Govs all season long.

In fact, the Lady Govs will head to Richmond without two players—sophomore Rachel Deaton (feet) and  freshman Marta Gutierrez (ankle). A third player, junior Holly Batey, will play, despite battling illness all week. Batey will play as an individual in the tourney.

The Lady Govs team will be comprised of sophomore Tala Mumford, selected co-OVC Golfer Week after shooting a 74, Tuesday, including a hole-in-one; senior Ashley Averitt;  redshirt sophomore Tabitha Beard, junior Lauren Bond and freshman Meghan Mueller.

“We enjoy playing at Arlington in Richmond,” said APSU coach Sara Robson. “Everyone except Meghan has experience on the course. We need to rely on golf course knowledge as to where to hit our shots and be confident in our targets to play well. “

Robson is hopeful her team can avoid the sluggish starts that have plagued her team’s first two spring tournaments.

“Staying focused for 54 holes will also be important as well as not letting one bad shot or one bad hole get us down,” Robson said. “I am proud if the girls the last two weeks for coming back in the second rounds. However, we need to get off to a good start this time so we are not playing catch up with the rest of the field.

“This is our last event before OVC (April 22nd-24th) and it is important to have a good finish, which we are capable of if we believe in ourselves and settle for nothing less than our best.”