OVC Golf Championship Rd2 - Edwards Moves Up 15 Spots To 12th Place

Photo by: Dave Winder-Murray State Athletics

OVC Golf Championship Rd2 - Edwards Moves Up 15 Spots To 12th Place

4/26/2021 2:45:00 PM | Men's Golf

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The Shoals GC in Muscle Shoals, Alabama is hosting the 71st playing of the OVC men’s golf championship

Murray State's Avery Edwards fired a 3-under-par 69 in the second round of the 2021 Ohio Valley Conference Men's Golf Championship to grab a spot in 11^th place at the Shoals Golf Club in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.

Edwards, a senior from Paducah, Kentucky, moved up from 27^th place to 11^th place with a score line of 76-69=145. His round featured a 34 on the front-9 with two birdies and seven pars and his back-9 had two more birdies and one bogey.

His 69 is one of the lowest rounds since 1978 in MSU men's golf at the OVC Championship. Cameron Carrico's 6-under-par 66 in 2011 at Greystone GC in Dickson, Tenn., still stands as MSU's best. Edwards posted a 68 in the 2019 OVC Championship at the Fighting Joe Course and Preston French did the same in the 2013 event at Greystone.

Other Murray State scores and places included Connor Coombs in 31^st place on scores of 78-73=151 and Quinn Eaton in 46^th place on rounds of 81-77=158. Austin Knight and Carson Holmes shared 47^th place after score Avery Edwards

lines of 77-82=159 and 78-81=159.

The Racers improved nine shots from their first round 309 to post a 300 for a total score of 609, but remained in ninth place in the field of 11 teams. UT Martin (569) passed Belmont (571) to take the top spot with 18 holes remaining. SIUE (577) was in third place, with Tennessee Tech (578), Jacksonville State (586), Morehead State (591), Eastern Kentucky (593) and Austin Peay (606) making up the top-8 teams.

With 18 holes remaining, the race for the medalist title Jack Story of UTM has a two shot lead after scores of 68-68=136.

SIUE's Brooks Jungbluth made a hole-in-one at the No. 18 hole from 180 yards Monday. It was the first ace in the OVC Championship since Murray State's Austin Knight in 2017. Then a freshman, Knight made a hole-in-one at the Fighting Joe's No. 3 par-3 from 186 yards.

The Fighting Joe Course is playing to a par of 72 and a length of 7,185 yards.

On the line in the final round are three points in the Battle of the Border series between the Racers and Austin Peay. The Racers and Govs will be joined by Eastern Kentucky in the second wave of tee times starting at 8:40 a.m. in Tuesday's final round.

71^st Ohio Valley Conference Championship
April 25-27, 2021
RJT at Muscle Shoals GC – Fighting Joe Course
Muscle Shoals, Ala.
Rd2 Scores

Team Scores
UT Martin 286 283 569 -7
Belmont 284 287 571 -5
SIUE 283 294 577 +1
Tennessee Tech 285 293 578 +2
Jacksonville State 293 293 586 +10
Morehead State 296 295 591 +15
Eastern Kentucky 301 292 593 +17
Austin Peay 307 299 606 +30
Murray State 309 300 609 +33
Eastern Illinois 311 306 617 +41
Tennessee State 314 316 630 +54

9 Murray State 309 300 609
T11 Avery Edwards (1) 76 69 145
T31 Connor Coombs (3) 78 73 151
46 Quinn Eaton (4) 81 77 158
T47 Austin Knight (2) 77 82 159
T47 Carson Holmes (5) 78 81 159

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 OVC Men's Championship has been held at The Shoals six times previously (2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019). For the OVC Men's Championship, the Fighting Joe course will be par 72 with a yardage of 7,258.

About Murray State Men's Golf
The Racers' program is in its 64th season overall and head Coach Eddie Hunt is in his 20th as the second coach in program history. Hunt took over the program in 2001 and has announced his retirement at the end of the 2021 spring season. The founder of the Racer team was Coach Buddy Hewitt in 1959. Hewitt is a Murray State Hall of Famer, inducted in 1990. He was part of the famous Murray State football team that played in the 1948 Tangerine Bowl. The Racers have won Ohio Valley Conference championships four times (1971, 1987, 1991 and 2010). Hewitt won the first three titles and Hunt's team won it in 2010 as their most recent OVC championship. MSU has produced 11 all-time OVC Golfer of the Year winners: Bill Graham (1962, 1963), Ron Acree (1965), Chris Piggot (1971), Chris Carlson (1987), Adam Grogan (1996), Brandon Henson (2001), Nick Newcomb (2010), Cameron Carrico (2011) and Patrick Newcomb (2012, 2013).