Racers Seek Consecutive OVC Championships Starting Monday

Monday, April 16

Muscle Shoals, Ala.

Murray State

Ohio Valley Conference

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

Racers Seek Consecutive OVC Championships Starting Monday

4/14/2018 2:56:00 PM | Women's Golf

OVC Women's Golf Championship Home I OVC Program I The Shoals GC I Round 1 Tee Times I Round 1 Scoring I MSU OVC Championship History

The Murray State women's golf team looks for their 11th Ohio Valley Conference title when the league championship begins play Monday at The Shoals Golf Club in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The 54-hole championship runs from April 16-18 and contested on The Schoolmaster course. The OVC men's championship will also be played at The Shoals (April 23-25) at the Fighting Joe course.

The Racers won their 10^th OVC title last year and look to win back-to-back titles for the fourth time in MSU history. The OVC played its first women's championship in 1994 and the event this month is the 25^th time it will be held.

Coach Velvet Milkman's lineup for 2018 is strong in terms of success and experience.

Murray State Lineup
Lucila Puente Rodriguez de Austria, So., Sevilla, Spain: A likely All-OVC selection, Puente Rodriguez has a 74.9 scoring average which ranks her third in the OVC. She placed eighth last year in the championship and has six sub-par rounds this spring including a 5-under-par 67 last September at the Chris Banister Golf Classic and a 4-under-par 68 this spring at Kiawah Island.

Moa Folke, Sr., Tranas, Sweden: A candidate for OVC Player of the Year, which would make her a back-to-back winner, Folke, has won the OVC individual title the last two seasons and her 6-under-par 66 in the second round a year ago was the event record. Folke is sporting the fourth-best OVC scoring average at 75.4. In 10 events, she has a pair of top-5 finishes. Her 5-under-par 67 last week at the Jan Weaver Invitational was her season-best and fifth sub-par round of the 2017-18 season.

Linette Holmslykke, Jr., Vejle, Denmark: She enters the OVC Championship with the fifth-best scoring average in the conference at 75.5. A year ago, Holmslykke placed fourth in this event and was tied with Folke for low round of the event with a 4-under-par 68. In her junior season of 2017-18 at Murray State, Holmslykke has five top-5 finishes because of some great play including a runner-up showing in October in the ULM Invitational.

Anna Moore, Sr., Hopkinsville, Ky.: A senior and local product from University Heights Academy in Hopkinsville, Moore is having her best season as a Racer with a scoring average of 76.3, which ranks her eighth in the OVC. She placed 12^th in this event a year ago and had two of her scores count as the Racers won the OVC title.

Raeysha Surendran, So., Selangor, Malaysia: The lefty is in her second season at Murray State and enters the OVC Championship with the 13^th best scoring average in the OVC at 77.7. She has one top-5 finish in the 2017-18 season with a fifth place finish at the Payne Stewart Memorial last September where she had her season-best score with a 3-under-par 69.

About The Shoals
The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at The Shoals is home to two 18-hole championship courses and 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. The tree-lined Schoolmaster Course (named for President Woodrow Wilson who was responsible for getting Wilson Dam built and was also known as "The Schoolmaster" of politics), opened in the Summer of 2005. Schoolmaster is more traditional golf with every hole keeping with the natural topography along the Tennessee River. 2018 marks the first time the event has been held at the venue since 2014 (it was also held there in 2008), and the first time it will be contested on the on the Schoolmaster Course (the previous ones were played on the Fighting Joe course).

For the OVC Women's Championship the Schoolmaster course will be par 72 with a yardage of 6,043.

OVC Awards Announced Monday Evening
The annual awards banquets will be held following the first round of play on Monday, April 16. The banquet will honor the 10-member All-OVC team as well as the All-Newcomer Team, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year. The OVC Player of the Year as well as All-Tournament and Tournament MVP awards will be presented at the conclusion of the championship.

Racer OVC Championship History
The Murray State women's golf program has an outstanding tradition that began when Head Coach Velvet Milkman was hired to start the program in 1993. After their title a year ago, MSU has posted 10 OVC Championship victories in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, and 2014 and 2017. Milkman has 11 OVC Coach of the Year honors.

The Racers have eight medalist winners at the OVC Championship including Jenny Daag (1998 & 1999), Cuyler Hedley (2003), Lee Anne Pace (2004), Nikki Orazine (2005), Delaney Howson (2014) and Moa Folke (2016 & 2017).

In the 24 previous OVC Championships, the Racers have had an individual finish in fifth place or better every time. MSU has 18 individual finishes of third place or better.

2017-18 OVC Team Scoring Averages
Murray State, 300.5
Jacksonville State, 302.0
Eastern Kentucky, 305.7
Austin Peay, 309.3
Tennessee Tech, 313.1
Belmont , 314.5
Morehead State, 314.7
Eastern Illinois, 335.5
Tennessee State, 340.7

Tournament Notes
The Racers will play their practice round on Sunday at 12:50 p.m.

All players will begin from the first tee in all three days of the competition. The first group off each day will be at 8 a.m.

The Racers are paired with Austin Peay and Morehead State in round one with Surendran hitting MSU's first shot at 8:50 a.m. Monday.

Racer OVC Tournament Facts & Records
First Appearance: 1994 (First season for MSU & OVC)
Championships: 10
First Championship: 1997
Last Championship: 2017
Championship List: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2017
Medalist Winners: 8
First Medalist: Jenny Daag (1998)
Last Medalist: Moa Folke (2017)
Low Team Single Round: 286 (2017)
High Team Single Round: 356 (1994, MSU's first round)
Low Individual Single Round: 66, Moa Folke (2017)
High Individual Single Round: 88, Cyuler Hedley (2002)

MSU OVC Individual Medalist
1998 Jenny Daag
1999 Jenny Daag
2002 Cuyler Hedley
2003 Lee-Ann Pace
2004 Nikki Orazine
2014 Delaney Howson
2016 Moa Folke

MSU All-Tournament
2001 Cuyler Hedley
2002 Stephanie Baskey, Cuyler Hedley, Nikki Orazine
2003 Stephanie Baskey, Nikki Orazine, Lee-Anne Pace
2004 Cuyler Hedley, Nikki Orazine
2005 Nikki Orazine
2006 Christi Baron
2007 Andrea Downer
2008 Joyce Trus
2009 Andrea Downer
2010 Megan McKinney, Joyce Trus
2011 Morgan Cross
2012 Delaney Howson, A. Lennartsson
2013 Delaney Howson, A. Lennartsson
2014 Delaney Howson, Sydney Trimble
2015 Minta Yin
2016 Moa Folke
2017 Moa Folke, Linette Holmslykke

MSU OVC Coach of the Year
Velvet Milkman - 1997, 1998, 1999,
2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2012,
2014, 2017

MSU OVC Golfer of the Year
1998 Jenny Daag
1999 Jenny Daag
2002 Cuyler Hedley
2003 Lee-Ann Pace
2004 Nikki Orazine
2005 Nikki Orazine
2014 Delaney Howson
2017 Moa Folke

MSU OVC Freshman of the Year
2008 Alex Hitteregger
2011 Delaney Howson
2017 Lucila Puente Rodriguez