APSU Sports: Austin Peay Men’s Golf
Clarksville, TN – It all comes down to the next 54 holes for Austin Peay State University men’s golf team as it prepares for the 2012 Ohio Valley Conference Men’s Golf Championships, played at Dickson’s GreyStone Golf Club.
Austin Peay is coming off a terrific regular season which saw the Govs post a perfect 29-0 head-to-head record against OVC teams after being predicted to finish the third in the league’s preseason poll. A perfect record only means high expectations for a young team, something head coach Kirk Kayden has not been shy about addressing.
“We know the implications for this tournament, but we’re preparing like any other event,” head coach Kirk Kayden said. “We’ve got some experience on this golf course and our strategy is simple. We want to play this course as it is, controlling the things we can control. We have to play smart, keep it in the fairways and use our practice round wisely.”
GreyStone Golf is a familiar place for the Austin Peay. Three players – junior Dustin Korte, sophomore Anthony Bradley and sophomore Marco Iten – played it during last year’s OVC Tournament.
The two OVC Tournament rookies – freshman Tucker Wallace and sophomore Trey Tarpley – have experienced it during their junior careers, both prepping in the middle Tennessee area.
Although Korte has two second-place finishes, Iten has the Govs only individual win, coming in a playoff at the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate. His 28 counting rounds leads a competitive Govs team. Tarpley and Wallace both will be making their first OVC Tournament appearances. Tarpley had three top-5 finishes in the Fall, while Wallace has carded two rounds in the 60s through eight events.
Perhaps the biggest challenge for the Govs will living up the expectations laid during a regular-season that will go down as one of the most successful in Austin Peay golf history. They won back-to-back tournaments for the first time since 2002-03 – winning Cincinnati’s Bearcat Invitational and the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate.
During the spring, the Govs became a regular in the final pairing. The team knocked on victory’s door in almost every tournament, making the final group five times in six events, while taking home three second-place finishes. None of that matters now, as Kayden prepares his young team for the next three days of championship golf.
“With three 18 holes days, it differs a little from what we’ve been used to playing,” Kayden said. “We’re going to try and grind it out a little bit more each day. The guys have been playing well and we feel like we have some momentum going into this. The season starts for us Thursday morning.”
