Eastern will look to tame its first links course challenge of the season as the Panthers get ready for the Ohio Valley Conference Championship (April 28-30) by competing in the Billiken Invitational.

Saint Louis University will host the tournament at its home course located in Madison. The players compete in a two-day tournament at the Gateway Public Links Course designed by Pete Dye. Gateway is a long test that has hosted the PGA Club Professional Championship.

The course is similar to a European style par 71 and is 7,092 yards in length. Gateway Public Links involves very long style of holes, bent grass fairways where balls will pick up mud and lots of possible hazards waiting for errant shots or mental errors.

However, the most challenging aspect of Gateway Public Links could by the constant wind gusts the area picks up at different times. The course is less than five miles away from the Mississippi River and wind speeds get up to 35 mph off the body of water.

First round scores are expected to be higher, as Monday’s forecast is for winds to increase to a possible 20 mph in the area.

The most difficult hole on the golf course is the third hole, which is a par five measuring a monstrous 655 yards. With the fairways kept wet and soft year-round, three shots will be played before competitors can reach the green. The course also has four par four holes measuring 440 yards or longer.

Eastern is coming off another disappointing finish in the Belmont Invitational where the Panthers fell from 11th (after one round) to finishing in 20th place.

The Panthers are looking to find consistency in their play before the OVC Championship on April 27.

The interesting factor to Eastern’s success will be how Panther freshman Dustin Sloat recovers from his disastrous weekend finish at the Belmont Invitational.

The Charleston native ran out of the gate with an even-par 71, but finished the next day with an 82-84 performance in the 36-hole final round.

The school coming into the event with the most momentum may be the Marquette Golden Eagles. Two weeks ago, Marquette won the Kauai Collegiate Cup and the Golden Eagles finished in a respectable 10th place at the Bradford Creek Invitational involving some of the top teams in the nation.

Marquette freshman Joe Weber will definitely be eying the individual title after being named Conference USA’s Golfer-of-the-Month.

Some other notable teams participating in the event will be Southeast Missouri, Creighton, DePaul and Missouri-Baptist.