Men's golf team at TSU Invitational, women playing in Western Carolina event

Men's golf team at TSU Invitational, women playing in Western Carolina event

Seniors Diana Carson and Josh Simer own low averages for the Golden Eagle teams

COOKEVILLE, Tenn.  – The Tennessee Tech golf teams will both be in action Monday and Tuesday, the final meet of the regular season for each team before playing in the Ohio Valley Conference Championships later in the month.

The men’s team will head to Spring Hill, Tenn., to play in the Big Blue Intercollegiate hosted by Tennessee State University. The 54-hole tournament will be played at the King’s Cree Golf Club and feature 14 schools.

The Golden Eagle women’s squad heads to Morgantown, N.C., for the Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate, hosted by Western Carolina University. The tournament will feature 16 schools playing 36 holes at the Mimosa Hills Golf and Country Club, a 1928 Donald Ross designed course situated in the foothills of North Carolina.

The two-day women’s event gets underway Monday at 10 a.m., while Tuesday’s second round will open with a shotgun start at 9:30 a.m.

Three of the top five teams from a season ago return for the Mimosa Hills event while nine teams will make their first-ever appearance at the event.
 
The field will include Elon Appalachian State, The Citadel, Wofford and host Western Carolina from the Southern Conference. The OVC will be represented by three teams as Jacksonville State joins Tech. Rounding out the field will be Gardner-Webb, High Point, Presbyterian, Radford, Richmond, USC Upstate, Western Kentucky and William & Mary.
 
Tech’s leader this spring has been senior Diana Carson, who owns a 78.0 average through 13 tournament rounds, ranking her sixth in the OVC. She has earned one all-tournament honor, that coming with a third place finish at the BSC Ann Rhoads Classic in February.

Senior Megan Bradford is just behind with a 78.3 average through 15 tournament rounds of play, putting her 13th in the OVC. She was medalist in October at the Austin Peay tournament, her only all-tourney laurels of the year.
Belmont returns to the Big Blue Invitational to defend its team champion, headlining the field of 16 schools. Joining host Tennessee State and Tech from the OVC will be Murray State, Morehead State and UT Martin. Also in the field will be Alabama State, Dayton, Evansville, John A. Logan College, Lipscomb, SIU Edwardsville, Texas Pan American and Winston-Salem State.

The teams will play 36 holes Monday beginning at 8 a.m., with the final 18 slated for Tuesday.

For the Golden Eagles, seniors Josh Simer and Jake Hetherly are coming off all-tournament performances when they tied for fourth place at the North Alabama Spring Classic last week.

Simer owns the team’s low average of 73.3 through 17 rounds of tourney play this year. He has earned three all-tournament finishes in his final campaign and currently ranks fifth in the OVC for low average.

Seniors Wes Korth and Heatherly are tied for second on the team in scoring average, each posting a mark of 76.0 strokes. Each has seen  20 rounds in tournament play this year.  

Results from both tournaments will be posted daily on TTUsports.com.

The OVC women’s championship will be played April 22-24, while the men’s tournament is April 26-28.