Young Racers Tackle 69th OVC Men's Golf Championship

Monday, April 23

Muscle Shoals, Ala.

Murray State

Ohio Valley Conference

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

4/20/2018 12:15:00 PM | Men's Golf

OVC Men's Golf Championship Home I OVC Program I The Shoals GC I Round 1 Tee Times I Round 1 Scoring I MSU OVC Championship History

The Murray State men's golf team heads into the 2018 Ohio Valley Conference Championship with a young lineup featuring no seniors and three underclassmen when the event begins Monday and runs through Wednesday (April 23-25) at The Shoals Golf Club in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

The Fighting Joe course at The Shoals will provide a challenging 54-hole test for the 69^th OVC men's tournament.

The Racers have four OVC titles to their credit with their last coming in 2010.

Coach Eddie Hunt takes the Racers to Alabama with thoughts of making a run at the title.

MURRAY STATE LINEUP
Austin Knight, So., Hopkinsville, Ky.: Austin Knight has played 32 rounds in the 2017-18 season with a scoring average of 73.6. He has scored a pair of wins, at the APSU Intercollegiate (Oct. 17) on rounds of 63-67-70=210 and at the TSU Big Blue Intercollegiate (April 10) with scores of 71-72-69=212. Knight made a hole-in-one in his first trip to the OVC Championship in 2017. It helped him to a 31^st place finish on rounds of 80-72-75=227.

Connor Coombs, Fr., Central City, Ky.: Connor Coombs, as a freshman, is in the OVC Championship for the first time and will be seeing action in only his 12th event as a Racer. He has a scoring average of 75.9 in a team-leading 33 rounds.

Gabe Wheeler, Jr., Sikeston, Mo.: Gabe Wheeler has also played in a team-leading 33 rounds this season with a scoring average of 74.8. He placed 42^nd in the OVC Championship in 2017 on scores of 76-83-73=232.

Lance Davis, Jr., Mayfield, Ky.: Lance Davis has a scoring average of 75.7 in 30 events. Davis is competing in his first OVC Championship.

Justin Wendling, So., Lithia, Fla.: In 21 rounds this season, Justin Wendling has a scoring average of 75.8. He's competing in the OVC Championship for the first time.

2017-18 SEASON
The Racers are ranked eighth in the OVC with a scoring average of 295.9. MSU has one win this season, which came at the season opener at their home course at Miller Memorial (Sept. 12). Outside of that win, the Racers have three other finishes of second place at the Skyhawk Classic (Oct. 3), APSU Intercollegiate (Oct. 17), and TSU Big Blue Intercollegiate (April 10).

2017-18 OVC Team Scoring Averages
SIUE, 290.7
UT Martin, 290.9
Eastern Kentucky, 291.8
Austin Peay, 292.2
Morehead State, 294.6
Tennessee Tech, 295.4
Jacksonville State, 295.6
Murray State, 295.9
Tennessee State, 297.3
Belmont , 300.1
Eastern Illinois, 313.1

MURRAY STATE - OVC CHAMPIONSHIP HISTORY
The Murray State men's golf program have won four OVC championships: in 1971, 1987, 1991 and 2010. Additionally, they've finished second 11 times with the last coming in 2009. The Racers have 11 medalist winners among nine different student-athletes with Patrick Newcomb taking the latest title in 2013.

The Racers are looking to improve upon a pair of fifth-place finishes when they posted a team score of 884 in 2016, but were only five shots off winner UT Martin. MSU was fifth in 2017 at 889. They made a run at the title in 2015 when the Racers placed second at 873, just five shots off winner Eastern Kentucky. The Racers placed third in 2011 and 2012 as they finished behind Jacksonville State twice.

The Racers would love to have one of their five players make a run at the individual title. MSU's Patrick Newcomb won the OVC title in 2013 on scores of 69-70=139. Since then, MSU has produced best finishes of 22^nd place by Jordan Smith in 2014, and an eighth-place showing by Smith and Brock Simmons in 2015, a ninth-place showing in 2016 by Preston French and last season's 11^th place finish by Avery Edwards.

Total OVC Championships
Eastern Kentucky 12
Austin Peay 8
Jacksonville State 5
Morehead State 5
Murray State 4 (1971, 1987, 1991, 2010)
Tennessee Tech 4

Murray State – OVC Championship Runner Up
1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1970, 1975, 1983, 2001, 2004, 2008, 2009

Murray State - OVC Tournament Individual Medalist
1962 Bill Graham
1963 Bill Graham
1965 Ron Acree
1971 Chris Pigott
1977 Kevin Klier
1987 Chris Carlson
1996 Adam Grogan
2001 Brandon Henson
2008 Nick Newcomb
2010 Nick Newcomb
2013 Patrick Newcomb

Murray State - OVC All-Tournament Team
(Started in 1999)
2001 Brandon Henson
2002 Matt Stark
2003 Will Cox
2004 Kyle Shirley
2005 Jamie Frazier
2008 Nick Newcomb, Cameron Carrico
2009 Jared Wolfe
2010 Nick Newcomb, Jared Wolfe, Chris Griffin
2011 Cameron Carrico
2012 Patrick Newcomb
2013 Patrick Newcomb

Racer OVC Tournament Facts & Records
First Appearance: 1959 (First year of Golf at MSU, OVC first season was 1949) Championships: 4 (1971, 1987, 1991, 2010) First Championship: 1971 Last Championship: 2010 Medalist Winners: 11 among nine players First Medalist: Bill Graham (1962) Last Medalist: Patrick Newcomb (2013) Low Team Single Round (Since 1978): 284 (2010, 2015) High Team Single Round (Since 1978): 325 (1988) *Low Individual Single Round: 66, Cameron Carrico (2011, finished fourth)
*Since 1978

TOURNAMENT NOTES
The Racers will play their practice round on Sunday at 12:40 p.m.

All players will begin from the first tee in all three days of the competition. The first group off each day will be at 8 a.m.

The Racers play with UT Martin and Tennessee Tech in round one starting at 9:40 a.m. Monday.

2018 marks the 69^th OVC men's golf championship since the first in 1950. There are some years since 1950 that the event wasn't played.

In 2017 at The Shoals, Jacksonville State overcame an eight-shot deficit entering the final round to top Eastern Kentucky by a single shot.

The annual awards banquet will be held following the first round of play on Monday, April 23. The banquet will honor the 10-member All-OVC team as well as the All-Newcomer Team, Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year. The All-Tournament and Tournament MVP awards will be presented at the conclusion of the championship.

ABOUT THE SHOALS
The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at The Shoals is home to two 18-hole championship courses and lies between the Wheeler and Wilson dams on the Tennessee River. Wheeler Dam is named in honor of General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler - the only Confederate General to attain the same rank later in the United States Army.

The OVC Men's Championship has been held at The Shoals five times previously (2009, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017).

For the OVC Men's Championship, the Fighting Joe course will be par 72 with a yardage of 7,258.

The tree-lined Schoolmaster Course (named for President Woodrow Wilson) hosted the OVC women's championship last week.