The Eastern men’s golf team will be one of nine teams competing in the Drake University Zach Johnson invitational Monday and Tuesday at The Harvester Golf Club in Rhodes, Iowa.

The tournament will be a 72-hole event, with 36 holes being played on Monday and the final 18 on Tuesday.

Eastern finished 14th out 15 teams in their last tournament and will find itself up against stiff competition again.

However, confidence for the Panthers is high.

“Our team expectations are high going into this tournament,” senior Alex Gowin said. “The course is very nice and sets up well for our team. We are excited to put three good team rounds together and see where that puts us on the leaderboard.”

One of the teams that could make things difficult for Eastern is Bradley University. Bradley has finished in the top three in all its tournaments this year, including a first-place finish in the Crusader Collegiate tournament.

Defending tournament champions Northern Iowa will also be playing again, and the team looks just as fierce this year. The Panthers have finished in the top four in every event they have played in this year, including a second-place finish in the University of Nebraska-Omaha invite.

Looking to surprise and make some noise as well is Indian Hills Community College. The Warriors placed 1st of 17 schools in the Mt. Mercy Invite and 2nd in the Fall Eagle Open.

Rounding out the competition is the University of Green-Bay, Creighton, North Dakota and North Dakota State.

If anything will even out the competition level in the tournament, it will be the course. Harvester Golf Club is a par-72 course which plays 7,365 yards.

“Yeah it’s a very challenging course,” Gowin said. “We are ready for the challenge, and we also know that everyone has to go out there and play the same course just like us.”

In the individual category of the tournament, Eastern will hope to see another big day from Alvaro Hernandez. The sophomore has been the Panthers’ number one golfer this season. He led the team overall in both of the tournaments this season.

JJ Bullock can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].