APSU Sports: Austin Peay Men’s Golf
Columbia, MO – Coming off two impressive tournament championships in as many weeks, Austin Peay State University men’s golf team will close out its regular-season schedule, Monday and Tuesday, when it travels into mid-Missouri for the Sixth Annual Columbia Orthopaedic Group-Mizzou Tiger Intercollegiate, to be played at The Club of Old Hawthorne.
The 12-team field features host Missouri, Cal Poly, Central Missouri, Columbia College, Creighton, Drake, IUPUI, Northern Iowa, South Dakota State, Utah Valley and Washington State in addition to the Governors. The host Tigers currently, rated 31st in the nation in the latest Golfstat.com rankings, are the favorites to repeat as champions on their home course—Missouri is coached by former Governors head man Mark Leroux (1997-2004).
The Governors, however, hope to challenge the Tigers after claiming the Memphis Intercollegiate and ASU Red Wolves Intercollegiate over the last two weeks. The Governors own a school-record five regular-season titles in 2012-13, including three this spring in four events.
“Old Hawthorne is a wonderful facility and four of our five starters have played there before,” APSU coach Kirk Kayden said. “This will be a big help for our preparation.”
Austin Peay’s recent play has watched them move up nearly 30 spots in two weeks to 74th in this week’s Golfstat.com rankings. The Governors will use the same lineup as they did in Arkansas, with senior Dustin Korte, juniors Anthony Bradley and Marco Iten, sophomore Tucker Wallace and freshman Chris Baker. Another freshman, Austin Kramer, will compete as an individual.
Korte and Bradley earned medalist honors in back-to-back weeks. Bradley is tied for fourth in the OVC with a 72.8 stroke average while Iten is sixth (73.1) and Korte eighth (73.5).
“The guys are motivated to play well this week and compete at a good event,” Kayden said. “We need to come out with a lot of confidence and energy for our final regular-season event.”
