» By DANIEL NEWTON – [email protected]
Usually only highlighted when Tiger Woods is either winning majors, crashing cars or a Caddyshack re-run airs on AMC, golf is a sport equally oblivious to those who do not follow it and is cherished and embraced by those who do.
Whether one follows golf or not, it should be noted that the APSU men’s golf team, currently the best option for APSU to bring home an Ohio Valley Conference title to Clarksville.
As of Monday, April 9, baseball is 7-1 in OVC play, men’s tennis is 5-0 and women’s tennis is 5-2.
These are all impressive records of teams dominating their sport in conference play but fall in comparison to the Golf Govs’ 27-0 mark in OVC play as of April 3.
Not only is the team winning in OVC play, they are beating everyone.
Currently, they boast two tournament championships, two second place finishes and one third place finish out of tournaments which have consisted of 11 to 22 teams.
In fact, only once this year have the Golf Govs failed to finish worse than middle of the pack.
Not only have they performed well in tournaments, they perform well in tournaments comprised of good competition, beating teams like Kentucky and Vanderbilt, who have been represented by alumni Russ Cochran and Brandt Snedeker on the PGA tour.
The key to this year’s team has been balanced play from its top four players.
Sophomores Anthony Bradley, Marco Iten, Trey Tarpley and junior Dustin Korte have started all nine tournaments this year and have shot an average score between 73 and 75 strokes per round.
Of the nine tournaments played this year, the golfing Govs have seen five different leaders for the team with Bradley, Iten, Korte and Tarpley all leading the team in two tournaments, while freshman Tucker Wallace has lead the team once.
On the year, APSU has posted 18 players finishing in the top 10, one individual tournament winner as Marco Iten took first place at the F & M Bank APSU Intercollegiate Tournament in a playoff and a low round on the year of 67 shot by Trey Tarpley.
One can anticipate the same success in the future. APSU will bring the top-five performers on the team back next year and will have four of the top-five performers for at least two more years, hopefully making APSU men’s golf a spectacle for the next several years.
The team will finish the regular season at the OVC Tournament on Wednesday, April 25, through Sunday, April 29, at the Greystone Golf Course in Dickson, Tenn.
Should they continue their success, one can certainly expect to see them playing in the regional finals in May and APSU hoisting another OVC championship banner next year. TAS
