Tech golfers to vie for OVC Championship starting Thursday
April 25, 2012

Tech golfers to vie for OVC Championship starting Thursday

The Tennessee Tech men's golf team will compete for the Ohio Valley Conference title this week, with the first of three rounds slated for Thursday at Dickson's GreyStone Golf Club.

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COOKEVILLE, Tenn. -- The Tennessee Tech men's golf team will compete for the Ohio Valley Conference championship this week, beginning with the opening round Thursday morning at GreyStone Golf Club in Dickson, Tenn. The 54-hole tournament will crown a winner Saturday from among nine teams, with the first group slated to swing from the first tee at 8:30 a.m.

Senior Tyler Cassetty will be the first Golden Eagle off the tee, scheduled for a 9:20 starting time in a threesome along withZack Butler of Eastern Kentucky and Tucker Wallace from Austin Peay. Sophomore Mason Griffin is next at 9:30, followed by senior Travis Ramsey at 9:40. Sophomore Greg Kitts has the 9:50 slot, while junior Lee Maxwell rounds out the Tech lineup at 10 a.m.

The annual awards dinner will be held following the first round of play, and will honor the All-OVC first-team and second-team members as well as All-Newcomer Team and Freshman of the Year. The OVC Player of the Year, Coach of the Year as well as All-Tournament and Tournament MVP awards will be presented at the conclusion of the championship.

Designed by PGA Tour pro Mark McCumber, GreyStone Golf Club offers a great championship course and staff. Located in historic Dickson, the golf course is a short drive from Nashville and is easily accessible from throughout middle Tennessee. Opened in 1998, GreyStone Golf Club is a public course that has hosted numerous high profile events including PGA Tour qualifying, Senior PGA Tour qualifying and the Tennessee State Open.

This marks the third year in a row that GreyStone has hosted the OVC Men's and Women's Championships and the course will also host the event next season. Last year Jacksonville State captured the men's team title in a weather-shortened 36-hole event.

In its final year of reclassification to Division I SIUE is not eligible for the OVC Golf Championships this season but are eligible for individual honors. The Cougars will compete in the event next season.

Hole-by-hole live results from each day of the championship can be accessed through links at OVCSports.com.

 Jacksonville State claimed its third OVC men's golf title a season ago doing so after Mother Nature cancelled the final round of play. But the final 18 holes would likely not have made a difference as the Gamecocks had a commanding 18-stroke lead after 36 holes and had already established OVC Championship records for team single round (280) and team two round scores (561) when play was halted.

JSU's title was the first for the program since 2007 and marked the fourth different school to win the event in the last four seasons. For the first time in OVC history the individual race ended in a three-way tie as Eastern Kentucky's Johan Eriksson and Jacksonville State teammates Andres Schonbaum and Matthew Wallace each finished at -5 and earned bids to the NCAA Regionals.

Individually, Eastern Illinois senior David Lawrence shares the OVC lead in stroke average (72.4) with Murray State's Patrick Newcomb, who has been named OVC Golfer of the Week five times this year. Jacksonville State's Tom Robson, EKU's Brian Fister and EIU's Gino Parrodi are tied for third in the league in stroke average at 73.0.

For Tech, Cassetty owns the low average during 2011-12 at 74.4 while earning a pair of Top 5 finishes in his 17 rounds of tourney play. The other four Tech entries have all played 29 rounds in tournament play this year, and Kitts leads that group with a 74.6 stroke average. Kitts owns three Top 10 finishes this year. Griffin has averaged 75.9, followed by Ramsey at 76.0 and Maxwell at 76.5.

The Golden Eagles finished second among 10 schools -- the team's highest showing of the year -- in the last tournament, the TSU Big Blue Intercollegiate held April 16-17. A month earlier, Tech had a third place finish in UT Martin's Grover Page Classic. Both of those tournaments included a large number of OVC opponents. 

Click here to view live scoring from the tournament.