Eastern places 14th at invite

Bob Reynolds, Staff Reporter

The Eastern men’s golf team teed off its fall season at the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville Invitational and placed 14th out of 15 teams with a team total of 912.

The Panthers’ best round came in the first when they shot a team-total of 301 and were tied for seventh place after the first day.

Eastern dropped three spots after round two and then ultimately fell four more sports after the third round.

The tournament, which stated on Monday and finished Tuesday, was at the par 72, 6,442-yard Sunset Hills Country Club in Edwardsville.

The Panthers were led by Austin Sproles, who placed 14th individually.

Sproles shot a three-round total of +7 (223), with his best round coming in the second round when he shot a 1-over 73.

Sophomores Marcus Dahlin and Daniel Hughes tied for 48th place with a round of +13 (236) for the tournament.

The tournament title was claimed by the Oral Roberts Golden Eagles, who led from the beginning.

The Golden Eagles shot a team-total of a 15-over 879, which was one spot ahead of Missouri State.

Golden Eagle juniors Scott Newell and Parker Dolezal were the top two golfers on Oral Roberts.

Newell, who came in third individually, led the team with two rounds of under-par golf with rounds of 71 and 70, respectively, and in round three he shot a 1-over 73.

Dolezal shot a three-round total of 219 and his best round came in the first round, when he shot an even par-72.

Missouri State, who finished one shot behind Oral Roberts, was led by senior Mark Karlsen, shot a 72-69-72 for his three round total of 213.

The 3-under 69 Karlsen shot was tied for the lowest round of the tournament with Murray State’s Jordan Smith, who tied for fourth for individuals.

Belmont’s Austin Van Horne was top individual for the tournament with a total of 212.

Van Horne did not shoot under-par in the tournament with rounds of 70-72-70.

There were four other teams, besides Eastern that were in the Ohio Valley Conference, which included Tennessee-Martin, Edwardsville, Belmont and Murray State.

Tennessee-Martin finished third place, which was the highest among OVC teams and every team finished inside the top ten.

Eastern will continue their fall action on September 21-23, when they head to Chicago to compete in the Chicago State Fall Invitational, which will be played at Harborside International Golf Center.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].