APSU Sports: Austin Peay Men’s Golf
Orlando, FL – Call Kirk Kayden a prophet.
After his Governors Golf team shot a disappointing 295 first-round Monday score in the Harmony Golf Preserve Intercollegiate, the Govs golf coach said: “If we can cut into that lead tomorrow, it will give us a chance on Wednesday…second rounds typically have been our better rounds.”
Florida Atlantic, one of the co-leaders after Monday, slipped to second at 579 (286-293) while Virginia Commonwealth moved to five strokes back at 583 (286-297).
“We really played well today as a team,” APSU coach Kirk Kayden said. “When you throw out a pair of 74s (play -six, count-4 format), that tells you how well we played.
“It was a good day. We made up all that deficit-we had a lot more birdies today. I think it (Tuesday’s lower score) had to do a lot with just getting back into competition.”
Junior Anthony Bradley, the defending Ohio Valley Conference champion, led the way, shooting three-under 69, mixing in five birdies with just two bogeys.
“Anthony played solid all day,” Kayden said. “He had a lot more birdies. He had two really nice saves on 17 and 18.”
Freshman Chris Baker, however, had the day’s biggest turnaround. After shooting a 76 on Monday, he bounced back with a 2-under 70, Tuesday, that included an eagle on No. 16 to go with four birdies.
“And it could have been even better,” Kayden. “Chris was at minus-5 heading to 17, but he bogeyed and doubled the final two holes.
“He’s a freshman and he’s learning. But to shoot a 70 in just your second start, that is pretty impressive.”
A third Gov, senior Dustin Korte, fired a 1-under 71-a much better score for the senior leader who opened with a 76, Monday.
“Dustin played more like Dustin today, more like he is capable of,” Kayden said.
Redshirt freshman Korey Smith had the Govs’ other counting round, firing a 1-over 73. Smith had a pair of birdies and three bogeys on the day.
“Marco is really hitting the ball well,” Kayden said. “Today, he just couldn’t get any (putts) to drop-he had a lot of those 12-15 footers that just wouldn’t fall.”
After two rounds, Bradley is in second place individually with a 143, two shots behind Florida Atlantic’s Richard Donegan. Iten remains in contention just one shot back at 144 while Baker moved from 21st to a tie for seventh at 146. Korte also moved into the Top 10 with 147 (76-71). In fact, all six Govs golfers are in the Top 15 heading into Wednesday’s final round on the par-72, 7,200-yard layout.
