Racers Seek Three In A Row At OVC Golf Championship

The Murray State women's golf team looks for their 12th Ohio Valley Conference title and third consecutive when the league championship begins play Monday at The Shoals Golf Club in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. The 54-hole championship runs from April 15-17 and is contested on The Schoolmaster course.

The Racers won their 11^th OVC title last year and look to win three in a row for the third time in the 25 seasons of the event.

Coach Velvet Milkman's lineup for 2019 has three student-athletes that have had success at the OVC and two that are rookies.

Murray State Lineup
Linette Holmslykke, Sr., Vejle, Denmark: Leads the OVC in scoring average at 73.1 on 29 rounds and finished 29^th a year ago at the OVC Championship with scores of 85-73-83=241.

Anna Moore, Sr., Hopkinsville, Ky.: Ranks eighth in OVC scoring average at 76.3 on 26 rounds. She placed 24^th in the 2018 OVC event on scores of 88-74-73=240.

Raeysha Surendran, Jr., Selangor, Malaysia: Enters 14^th in the OVC with a scoring average of 76.9 in 29 rounds. A year ago, the lefty from Malaysia made the All-Tournament Team with a fourth place finish on scores of 77-72-73=222.

Jane Watts, Sr., Versailles, Ky.: Playing in her first OVC Championship, Watts enters the event 12^th in the league with a scoring average of 76.7 in 29 rounds.

Sarah McDowell, Fr., Murray, Ky.: A hometown product and coming off a redshirt season, McDowell is appearing in her first OVC championship and has a scoring average of 77.2 in 29 rounds.

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 of a traditional layout with every hole keeping with the natural topography along the Tennessee River. This is the second year the event will be held here.

For the OVC Women's Championship the Schoolmaster course will be par 72 with a yardage of 6,025.

OVC Awards Announced Monday Evening
The annual awards banquets will be held following the first round of play on Monday. The banquet will honor the 10-member All-OVC team as well as the All-Newcomer Team at the Marriott Shoals Hotel in Florence, Ala. 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 Golf Notes
The 2019 event will be the Racers' 26th appearance and the same number for Coach Velvet Milkman who is the only coach MSU has ever had since she started the program at Murray State in 1993.

The Racers' title in 2018 was their 11^th and second-consecutive, which means the Racers are going for three in a row in 2019. Amazingly, Milkman's teams have a pair of three-peats already. Those came from 1997-99 and 2003-2004.

MSU's 11 OVC championships occurred in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2017 and 2018.

As the OVC prepares for the 26^th staging of the event, it's worth noting that in the previous 25, Murray State has won 11 and finished runner-up five times. In 25 OVC Championships appearances, the Racers have finished out of the top three only three times.

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 25 previous OVC Championships, the Racers have had an individual finish in fifth place or better every time. MSU has 19 individual finishes of third place or better.

2018-19 OVC Team Scoring Averages
Eastern Kentucky, 299.0
Jacksonville State, 302.3
Murray State, 300.9
Austin Peay, 307.4
Tennessee Tech, 309.9
Belmont , 311.7
Morehead State, 317.1
Eastern Illinois, 339.7
Tennessee State, 348.1

Tournament Schedule
The Racers will play their practice round on Sunday at noon.

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.

Tee times for the OVC event find the first wave Monday morning at 8 a.m. consisting of Tennessee Tech, Eastern Illinois and Tennessee State playing together. Austin Peay, Morehead State and Belmont start the second wave of tee times at 8:50 a.m. and the final wave begins at 9:40 a.m. when Murray State, Jacksonville State and Eastern Kentucky play together.

Racer OVC Tournament Facts & Records
First Appearance: 1994 (First season for MSU & OVC)
Championships: 11
First Championship: 1997
Last Championship: 2018
Championship List: 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2017, 2018
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, Cuyler Hedley (2002)

MSU Individual Medalist
1998 Jenny Daag
1999 Jenny Daag
2002 Cuyler Hedley
2003 Lee-Ann Pace
2004 Nikki Orazine
2014 Delaney Howson
2016 Moa Folke
2017 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
2018 Moa Folke, Lucila Puente Rodriguez, Raeysha Surendran

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

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

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

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Morgan Cross

Moa Folke

Sarah Forsythe

Linette Holmslykke

Delaney Howson

Anna Moore

Raeysha Surendran

Jane Watts

Murray State University Athletics