Opelika, AL – Against as tough a field as the Govs will see this season, the Austin Peay State University (APSU) men’s golf team rallied on the front nine to put itself in good position on Monday’s moving day at the Tiger Invitational presented by Jason Dufner at Grand National Golf Club.
With four top-50 programs in the GolfStat.com rankings among the field, Austin Peay State University’s plus-18 306 has the Govs 16th heading into Monday; however, the Govs rallied from a plus-14 on the back-nine to post a plus-four on the front.
Solving their woes on the back could send Austin Peay up the leaderboard when play resumes Monday morning.
The APSU Govs were paced to start the tournament by sophomore Micah Knisley, who was one double-bogey away from a spot among the top-30; as it stands, Knisley’s 73, which included four birdies to offset the double on the par-3 No. 3, has him 45th after 18 holes.
Austin Peay State University’s top four finishers were all within four strokes of one another; after Knisley came Michael Busse (74, t-54th), Garrett Whitfield (75, t-65th) and Austin Lancaster (76, t-72nd), with junior Chase Korte rounding out the Austin Peay day at 81.
Busse dropped 11 consecutive pars, finishing with four on the back nine and starting the front with seven more; he also closed strong with a birdie on the par-4 No. 9. Back-to-back birdies at No. 3 and No. 4 gave Whitfield some momentum late, while Lancaster turned in an even-par 36 on the front side to head into Monday on a high note. Korte’s 13 pars were tied for third-most in the tournament; he’ll look to add some red to his score card when the Govs tee off Monday.
The Austin Peay State University men’s golf team will take the course mostly alongside James Madison and South Alabama, Monday, teeing off on No. 10 beginning at 8:45am.
