The Eastern men’s golf team will be competing for a chance to win the Ohio Valley Conference tournament, starting Thursday and running through Sunday at Muscle Shoals Golf Course in Muscle Shoals, Ala.

The Panthers have not had their best year, as they only had one top five finish out of nine tournaments this season.

The best finish the Panthers had this season was in the Butler Bulldog Florida Invitational when they placed fifth out of 10 teams.

Eastern is led by Austin Sproles, who has averaged a 76.5 per round this season.

Sproles has had one top five finish, three top 10 finishes and four top 20 finishes this season, individually.

His best round this season came when he shot a 68 at the Butler Fall Invitational and tied for fifth in the tournament overall.

Brady Welsh, through five events, has averaged a 77.2 this season in 11 rounds of golf for Eastern.

Welsh’s low round this season was an even-par 72 at the Butler Fall Invitational where he finished tied for 20th place.

In the Ohio Valley Conference this season, Tennessee-Martin had the best scoring average out of any team in the conference at 292.7 and Tennessee Tech was right behind the Skyhawks at 292.8.

The Panthers had the lowest four-person team average of 309.

Tomasz Anderson of Jacksonville State had an average of 72.6 this season through 26 rounds of golf. He led all OVC golfers in the individual category.

Anderson’s low round this season came when he shot a 67 this season at the Tiger Invitational.

At that invitational, Anderson shot a 69 and 70 in the final two rounds and ended up in first place.

Ashton Van Horne had the second lowest average this season in the OVC, averaging a 72.7 per round.

He placed first in the Austin Peay Intercollegiate, when he shot an 11-under for the tournament. His rounds of 67, 69 and 69 were the three best rounds he shot all season.

Van Horne did not have the best round on the team as his teammate Ben Simpson shot a seven-under 64 at the Murray State Invitational.

Simpson is averaging a 73 this season.

Van Horne and Simpson figure to be the favorites to win the OVC individual medals.

Belmont as a team this season has eight top five finishes, including two tournament wins and two runner-ups.

There lowest round this season came in the Southern Illinois Derek Dolenc Invitational, where they shot two-over as a team.

Bob Reynolds can be reached at 581-2812 or rjreynolds@eiu.edu.