By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The name Matthew Giles is beginning to become synonymous with the adidas® OVC Male Golfer of the Week award as the Ohio Valley Conference announced Wednesday that the Tennessee Tech freshman claimed the honor for the third time this season.
The Golden Eagle rookie tied for third place at the ASU Fall Beach Classic and helped the Tech squad to its third top three finish of the fall season, falling just one stroke back of Auburn for second place and three strokes back of tournament winner Arkansas State. Giles notched rounds of 73 and 70 in the rain-shortened event, finishing at 143 overall for his second career All-Tournament honor.
Two weeks ago, the Louisville, Tenn. native earned a runner-up finish at the Kenny Perry Invitational, tying for second place overall and coming up just one stroke shy of first place after carding rounds of 71, 70 and 76 for a final score of 217.
His performance helped the Tech squad to a third place finish at the event in Bowling Green, Ky. and earned him the first All-Tournament honor of his career.
In the season-opening event, Giles kicked off his Golden Eagle career with a splash, leading his squad to a tie for seventh place at the GolfWeek Program Challenge and a first-place showing among the four OVC programs in the field. He carded rounds of 70-71-69 to finish 6-under at his first collegiate event and in a tie for 12th place in the 90-man field.
He is now the first Tech player ever to garner OVC Male Player of the Week honors three times in the same year and was already the first Tech freshman ever to take home a weekly league honor. Giles also set the Golden Eagles' all-time freshman scoring record with his 54-hole total of 210 in Myrtle Beach the first week of the season.
The Tech men's golf team will shift its focus to the classroom and tinkering on some things to get better throughout practice before returning to the course in February for the spring season.
Photo by Cody Bryant, TTU Photo Services
