By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The long, excruciating wait is finally over for the Tennessee Tech men's golf team as the Golden Eagles officially kick off the 2016-17 season with a three-day tour of the GolfWeek Program Challenge in Myrtle Beach, S.C. beginning Sunday morning.
GOLFWEEK PROGRAM CHALLENGE: 54 holes (18 Sunday, 18 Monday, 18 Tuesday), located at the par-72, 6,982-yard True Blue Plantation. Teams will start teeing off each day at 7:30 a.m. CT. The GolfWeek Program Challenge Tournament will hand out titles to the top men's and women's team, along with an overall team title to one collegiate program, which is determined by the program's men's and women's combined total score.
GOLDEN EAGLE LINEUP: Competing for the Golden Eagles are sophomore Matthew Giles, sophomore Ben Huskey, freshman Charles Seals, freshman Cameron Yeary and freshman Dabney Dickenson.
THE COMPETITION: The 16-team field consists of Boston College, Campbell, Elon, Gardner-Webb, Houston Baptist, Jacksonville, Jacksonville State, James Madison, Mercer, Morehead State, Radford, Stetson, Tennessee Tech, Valparaiso, Western Carolina and Xavier.
THOUGHTS FROM COACH BROWN: "We're all very excited for the season to start and can't wait to get back to True Blue. It's a great golf course that has large fairways and lends itself well to scoring opportunities. We have a very young team making the trip this year and just one has experience at this event. It makes it all that much more exhilarating. I'm really looking forward to seeing what they do, including three of them for the first time. It should be a lot of fun."
WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The Golden Eagles enter their first event of the season with one of the youngest starting fives in recent memory, toting along a squad comprised of two sophomores and three true freshmen. The lone Tech golfer with experience at the course, Matthew Giles will look to build off last year's finish at the event when he broke the program's freshman scoring record. The Louisville, Tenn. native carded a 70-71-69=210 in Myrtle Beach last season, placing in a tie for 12th at 6-under par.
Photo by Thomas Corhern