Golf season set to start fall season

Sean Hastings, Sports Editor

 

The Eastern men’s golf team struggled in 2015-2016, finishing at the back of the pack in most matches, but the 2016-2017 season for the Panthers can be a different story.

The Panthers will open up their fall season Sept. 17 at the Eastern Kentucky Intercollegiate. Eastern will play a total of four matches in the fall, and have their regular season in the spring, all in preparation for the Ohio Valley Conference.

After playing in the Eastern Kentucky Intercollegiate, the Panthers will hit the road for the SIU Derek Dolenc Invitational, the Drake/Zach Johnson Invitational and the F & M Bank APSU Intercollegiate.

One golfer returning to the Panthers’ roster in 2016-2017 is Charleston-native, junior Alex Gowin.

With the work the Panthers put in during the fall season and during the regular season in the spring, Gowin believes they can have some success in the OVC tournament when the time comes.

“My main focus through this fall season is to improve with my teammates and improve on our record from last year,” he said. “I think the experience this fall and spring leading up to the tournament will give us a lot more confidence when that time comes.”

“I feel like this year will be a great year for EIU golf,” Gowin said.

Eastern’s best finish came in the Western Illinois Invite April 15, where they finished seventh out of 12 teams competing. The OVC tournament, however, did not pan out the way they were hoping as they took a last place finish.

Gowin played a total of 15 rounds in his sophomore campaign. Gowin’s best round of the season was a 74, recording a season-average of 80.67. His low-round score of 74 was the fourth highest on the team last season.

Freshman Alavaro Hernandez turned in the best round with a 67.

The Panthers graduated Austin Sproles and Will Drerup in the spring of 2016.

Sean Hastings can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected]