Jordan Smith Goes Low In Final Racer Round

Friday, April 24

Muscle Shoals, Ala.

Murray State

Ohio Valley Conference

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

4/26/2015 3:53:00 PM | Men's Golf

Results I Gallery I OVC Release

The Murray State Men's golf team finished the Ohio Valley Conference Championship on a high note when they carded the best score of the day with a 4-under-par 284 at the Shoals Golf Club in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

The furious finish gave the Racers a share of a three-way tie for second place with scores of 297-292-284=873, five shots behind champion Eastern Kentucky. The Racers shared the runner-up spot with Tennessee Tech and Belmont.

With the chances of coming from 13 shots back to win being slim, the day turned into the Jordan Smith farewell tour as MSU's only senior played his final round with the Racers. He went out with a solid 1-under-par 71 and made four straight birdies at the end of the front nine. Smith fired rounds of 73-73-71=217 and finished eighth in the field of 55 competitors.

"Jordan is the total package," MSU Head Coach Eddie Hunt said. "A great player, great leader and great student. A 4.0 student that's never made anything other than an A in college. I've said this many times, but he is the hardest working player that I've ever had here at Murray State. He improved every season and became an All-OVC player. He has set a good example for the rest of our team."

The Racers' final round spark came early in the day when Brock Simmons and Jared Gosser made six birdies between them in the first five holes as the Racers made the turn at 10-under-par. But with the Racers starting the final round in seventh place, there were too many teams to pass.

"I couldn't have been more pleased with the way our kids played today," Hunt said. "We talked about it last night that we wanted to finish this thing the right way and we did that. I was extremely pleased to be 10-under at the turn and for a while today we jumped into third place and were six shots back. We have four outstanding players coming back and this should send us into the off season with some momentum."

Brock Simmons tied for team honors with Smith on scores of 73-73-71=217 and also a share of eighth place overall. Jared Gosser and Duncan McCormick finished 19^th and had the Racers' best score of the event with a 2-under 70. Gosser had scores of 75-76-70=221, while McCormick had scores of 76-70-75=221. Preston French had rounds of 78-81-72=231 for a 45^th place finish.

UT Martin's Brendan Caballero was the medalist champion with rounds of 70-68-73=211 and edged out Tomasz Anderson of Jacksonville State by one shot.

After the three-way tie for second place, Austin Peay placed fifth at 874 and UT Martin was sixth place at 877. Jacksonville State had a score of 878 and placed seventh ahead of Morehead State (887), SIUE (907), Tennessee State (910) and Eastern Illinois (921).

The Fighting Joe course at The Shoals played to a par-72 and a length of 7,258 yards.

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