It was an historic day for Austin Peay State University men’s golf, which kept up a series of fantastic finishes at the sixth annual Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate at Sevierville Golf Club’s River Course. The Govs finished with a three-under par 861 (290-279-292), securing third place by nine shots over Marshall. Eastern Kentucky won the event with an 850, followed by Carson-Newman (851) and the Govs, with UT Martin pushing up to fifth on the final day.
It’s Austin Peay’s third straight top-three finish, the longest streak of top-three finishes for the program since nine consecutive top-three finishes spanning most of the 2012-13 campaign.
Continuing his ascension up the leaderboard on the final day was sophomore Alex Vegh, who went from tied for 26th after the first round to a tie for fifth thanks to a final-round 70, which left him at five-under par 211 (74-67-70) for the tournament. He led the Govs in both par-3 (2.83/hole, tied with Austin Lancaster) and par-4 (3.97/hole) scoring, picking up his third consecutive top-10 finish in the process—the first Gov since Marco Iten in 2014 with three straight top-10 showings.
Lancaster did more than his part, picking up his second consecutive top-10 with a seventh-place 214 (71-68-75); the Hendersonville native shot seven-under par (4.42/hole) on par-5 attempts for the week, leading the Govs and finishing third in the tournament with 14 birdies.
Adding in a third straight top-10 of his own was sophomore Michael Busse, who tied for 10th at 215 (70-72-73); Busse spent the week getting up and down, canning 39 pars—tied for fourth-most over the 54-hole event.
Busse and Vegh are the first set of Governor teammates with three straight top-10 finishes since Iten and Anthony Bradley in 2012-13 (Kenny Perry Invitational, F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate and Harmony Golf Preserve Intercollegiate).
With the trio of sophomores in head coach Robbie Wilson’s lineup playing as well as they have the last few weeks, freshmen Chase Korte and Jay Fox have flown under the radar, but the duo was solid in their own right. Korte’s final-round 74 left him tied for 31st (75-72-74—221), while Fox continued to build off his round two momentum, firing a final-round 77 (85-76-77—238).
The Govs will take a 13-day hiatus before returning to action in Jonesboro, Arkansas, site of the Red Wolves Intercollegiate; the two-day event will be held at Ridge Pointe Country Club.
(Courtesy – Colby Wilson, APSU Associate Director of Athletics Communications)