The 2008 Ohio Valley Conference Women's Golf Championship final round is underway in Muscle Shoals, Ala.
The Murray State Racers began the final round four shots off the lead of Jacksonville State.
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The Racers of Murray State will look to claim their first team title since 2004 which was also the last year in which the team claimed the individual tournament title when Nikki Orazine was the medalist. The young MSU team, in which the upper class consists of two juniors, will go for the OVC prize. The MSU starting five consists of Bethany Yates (junior), Andrea Downer, Megan McKinney, and Joyce Trus (sophomores), Alexandra Hinteregger (freshman).
The Racers have played some impressive golf this spring with a win at the Shamrock Intercollegiate and their own Racer Classic. They also placed third at the Lady Indian Classic last fall.
This is the first time that the tournament will be held in Muscle Shoals and the second time ever that the tournament will be held in the state of Alabama. The teams will play on the “Fighting Joe” course at The Shoals. The Shoals lies between the Wheeler and Wilson dams on the Tennessee River. Wheeler Dam is named in honor of General Joseph "Fighting Joe" Wheeler - the only Confederate General to attain the same rank later in the United States Army. General Wheeler's intense desire to show that Southerners could be counted on as citizens of the U.S. prompted him to volunteer, at age 62, for service in the Spanish-American War.
The east championship course at The Shoals is named after General Wheeler. Fighting Joe was the first Trail course to break 8,000 yards, measuring 8,092 yards from the Black tees. According to the some the spectacular 17th hole is the signature hole on the course, but the 18th green overlooking Wilson Lake on the Tennessee River will distract you with its beauty, if not its treachery.
Jacksonville State will be looking to claim an unprecedented fourth straight OVC championship. The current Gamecocks title three-peat ties them with Murray State (1997-99, 2002-04) as the only OVC teams to win three consecutive championships. The Racers are looking to get the OVC title for the first time since 2004.
