OVC Men's Golf Poll

RICHMOND, Ky. – As the spring portion of the 2016-17 NCAA men's golf schedule begins, no team in the nation has more wins or a higher winning percentage than the Eastern Kentucky men's golf team.  Eastern is also the favorite to win the 2017 Ohio Valley Conference Championship.
 
Through six events in the fall, EKU won four titles, compiled 77 head-to-head wins and a 97.5 head-to-head winning percentage (77-2).  No team in the nation can beat the Colonels in those categories as the spring season begins.
 
Dayton has the second most head-to-head wins with 67.  Mississippi has the second-best winning percentage, 97 percent (65-2).  Only one team has fewer head-to-head losses than two – Wagner is 18-1 this season.
 
The Colonels will begin the spring portion of their schedule on Monday at The Invitational at Savannah Harbor hosted by the College of William & Mary.  The two-day, 54-hole event will be contested at the Savannah Harbor Golf Club.
 
In the 2016-17 OVC Golf Poll released today by the conference office, Eastern Kentucky is the clear favorite to capture its 13th conference title.  The Colonels received 10 of a possible 10 first place votes and a total of 100 points.  Jacksonville State was picked second with 88 points. 
 
No other current league member has more than eight championships.  EKU has placed among the top four at the conference championship 36 times in the last 39 years.  Tennessee-Martin (80) is third in the poll and Murray State (62) rounded out the top-4 of the 11-team league.
 
Eastern Kentucky is ranked 49th in the nation in the latest Golfstat Poll.  Eastern was No. 28 in the final Bushnell Golfweek Coaches Poll of the fall season.  With 11 total votes, the Colonels sit just outside the top-25 and are in front of such programs as Arizona State, Missouri, Michigan State and Alabama.
 
In the fall, Eastern Kentucky defeated 15 teams at the Joe Feaganes Marshall Invitational and 17 more at the EKU Intercollegiate.  Eastern posted a second place finish at the 19-team Patriot Intercollegiate, missing first by just two shots.  The Colonels beat 12 more teams, including Kentucky and Western Kentucky, on their way to winning the Kenny Perry Invitational.  Eastern beat seven teams from Florida, including then No. 44 Central Florida, on its way to a victory at the 2016 Homewood/Hilton Garden Airport & FGCU Classic.  The Colonels closed out the fall portion of the schedule by finishing second at the Hummingbird Intercollegiate.
 
An EKU player won the individual title at four of the team's first six events.  Sophomore Eric Lindwall has won two tournaments.  Juniors Noah Combs and Will Sallee have each won once.  Eastern Kentucky players own three of the top four scoring averages in the OVC.  Sallee leads the league with a 70.5 stroke average.
 
Other spring events for the Colonels include the Wexford Plantation Intercollegiate in Hilton Head, South Carolina (Feb. 27-28); the TPC Four Seasons Invitational in Irving, Texas (March 15-16); the Kingsmill Intercollegiate in Williamsburg, Virginia (March 19-21) and the Earl Yestingsmeier Memorial Invitational in Muncie, Indiana (April 14-15).