Golf Notebook: Teams to play on familiar courses
Dan Cusack / Staff Reporter
Issue date: 4/22/09 Section: Sports
Both the Eastern men's and women's golf teams will play on courses for the first time for the Ohio Valley Conference tournaments.
The women, who play Thursday through Saturday at the Crooked Creek Golf Course in London, Ky., will get their first look at the course when they arrive Wednesday.
They will play a practice round Wednesday and begin the tournament Thursday. The men's team will play at The Shoals Golf Course in Muscle Shoals, Ala.
Last season, the women's team held its conference tournament at Muscle Shoals.
Junior Katie Imburgia said she kept a yardage book from the course and has been talking to the men's team about the different holes.
"I played there over the spring break and still have a score book, so I made some copies for them," Imburgia said. "It is a great course, and I know they will do well on it."
Senior Matt Davis said he has talked to the women and heard the course is tough.
He said he will look at the book on the way to the tournament.
Teams work on short game
Senior Carrie Riordan said she thinks the team's short game has improved entering the OVC Tournament.
The team has been playing round-robin 18 holes and head-to-head match-ups, which she thinks gives the Panthers a lot of work.
"We play 18 rounds with every girl, and whoever is closest to the hole wins the point," Riordan said. "After each hole we tell coach our scores. It gets really competitive because we all want to do our best, and we all want to win."
Riordan played her best this spring at Eastern's last tournament. She finished third with a score of 154 (+12), which gave her a third-place finish.
For her efforts, Riordan was the only other player in the conference to be named a nominee for the OVC Women's Golfer of the Week.
She said it felt great and that it would be a big boast for her especially going into conference.
The Eastern's women's golf team is familiar with golfer of the week as Imburgia was given the award two weeks ago.
The men's team won a triangular meet Friday against Chicago State and Southern Illinois Edwardsville at the Mattoon Country Club.
"It was good to play at a familiar course and win," Davis said. "It helps having competition and playing well."
League outlook: Jax State, Murray State looking good
Coming into the OVC Tournament, Jacksonville State's women golf team has four of the top six lowest golfers in the league.
Portia Abbott is has the lowest fall average with 74.4 in 25 rounds of play. Laura Cutler of JSU is third in the league with a 78 average in 25 rounds, Ashley Cox is fourth with a 78.1 average.
Despite having four of the lowest averages, Murray State has the lowest team average of the fall season. Murray State's team average is 312.8 in 26 rounds of play, while JSU is averaging 313 in 22 rounds.
Eastern's lowest golfer on the women's side is Imburgia with a score of 79.9 per round.
Eastern is ranked eighth out of ninth in team average with a team average of 321.7 in 16 rounds.
Imburgia said she was worried when she saw where Eastern was ranked in the conference, but that the team plays better than their average later in the year.
"We are not that much behind a lot of other teams, so I think we have a chance," Imburgia said.
Murray State and Eastern Kentucky are neck and neck on the men's side with team averages within a point of each other.
Eastern Illinois junior Matt Bird is tied with the 12th best average in the conference with a 74.3.
Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.
The women, who play Thursday through Saturday at the Crooked Creek Golf Course in London, Ky., will get their first look at the course when they arrive Wednesday.
They will play a practice round Wednesday and begin the tournament Thursday. The men's team will play at The Shoals Golf Course in Muscle Shoals, Ala.
Last season, the women's team held its conference tournament at Muscle Shoals.
Junior Katie Imburgia said she kept a yardage book from the course and has been talking to the men's team about the different holes.
"I played there over the spring break and still have a score book, so I made some copies for them," Imburgia said. "It is a great course, and I know they will do well on it."
Senior Matt Davis said he has talked to the women and heard the course is tough.
He said he will look at the book on the way to the tournament.
Teams work on short game
Senior Carrie Riordan said she thinks the team's short game has improved entering the OVC Tournament.
The team has been playing round-robin 18 holes and head-to-head match-ups, which she thinks gives the Panthers a lot of work.
"We play 18 rounds with every girl, and whoever is closest to the hole wins the point," Riordan said. "After each hole we tell coach our scores. It gets really competitive because we all want to do our best, and we all want to win."
Riordan played her best this spring at Eastern's last tournament. She finished third with a score of 154 (+12), which gave her a third-place finish.
For her efforts, Riordan was the only other player in the conference to be named a nominee for the OVC Women's Golfer of the Week.
She said it felt great and that it would be a big boast for her especially going into conference.
The Eastern's women's golf team is familiar with golfer of the week as Imburgia was given the award two weeks ago.
The men's team won a triangular meet Friday against Chicago State and Southern Illinois Edwardsville at the Mattoon Country Club.
"It was good to play at a familiar course and win," Davis said. "It helps having competition and playing well."
League outlook: Jax State, Murray State looking good
Coming into the OVC Tournament, Jacksonville State's women golf team has four of the top six lowest golfers in the league.
Portia Abbott is has the lowest fall average with 74.4 in 25 rounds of play. Laura Cutler of JSU is third in the league with a 78 average in 25 rounds, Ashley Cox is fourth with a 78.1 average.
Despite having four of the lowest averages, Murray State has the lowest team average of the fall season. Murray State's team average is 312.8 in 26 rounds of play, while JSU is averaging 313 in 22 rounds.
Eastern's lowest golfer on the women's side is Imburgia with a score of 79.9 per round.
Eastern is ranked eighth out of ninth in team average with a team average of 321.7 in 16 rounds.
Imburgia said she was worried when she saw where Eastern was ranked in the conference, but that the team plays better than their average later in the year.
"We are not that much behind a lot of other teams, so I think we have a chance," Imburgia said.
Murray State and Eastern Kentucky are neck and neck on the men's side with team averages within a point of each other.
Eastern Illinois junior Matt Bird is tied with the 12th best average in the conference with a 74.3.
Dan Cusack can be reached at 581-7944 or at dscusack@eiu.edu.
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