The Eastern men’s golf team hasn’t had much success this year, always finding itself near the bottom of each and every tournament.

Despite the woes this season, the Panthers will begin a three-day Ohio Valley Conference Men’s Golf Tournament that starts April 24, with final round action starting Sunday April 26.

The Panthers will be one of 11 teams in the tournament. They include, Austin Peay, Belmont, Eastern Kentucky, Murray State, Morehead State, SIU Edwardsville, Tennessee State, Tennessee Tech and Tennessee Martin.

Last year, rain played a big factor in the final round of the Men’s Championship for the third time in four years.

With the tournament ending early, Jacksonville State’s six-shot lead was good enough to win the Gamecocks’ fifth OVC championship.

The tournament will be played at the Par 72, 7,258-yard The Shoals on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail for the second year in a row.

The course is home to two 18-hole courses and lies between the Wheeler and Wilson dams on the Tennessee River.

The Panthers will tee off around 8 a.m. Friday, with the range opening at 7 a.m. The Panthers will be looking for its first OVC tournament championship in their existence.

Eastern placed seventh in the tournament last season with a team score of 604. Eastern Kentucky and Austin Peay tied for second place with a team score of 573.

The Panthers were ahead of Murray State, Tennessee Tech, Morehead State and Tennessee State.

Eastern is led by senior Oscar Borda, who is averaging a 76 per round this season. He has had two rounds of even par this season in 22 rounds played.

Borda is coming off a tournament where he tied for 31^st place in the Xavier Invitational last weekend. He shot a 7-over, 78 in round one, 1-over, 72 in round two and then struggled the next day shooting a 10-over, 81.

Eastern sophomore James Jansen has been one of more impressive golfers on the Panther team this season.

Jansen has had 10 rounds of which he has been in the 70’s with his lowest round coming in the Austin Peay Invitational back in October where he shot even-par.  The previous two rounds before that, Jansen shot a one-over-par.

In addition to Jansen and Borda, Eastern coach Mike Moncel plans on starting senior Brady Welsh and sophomore Marcus Dahlin and Daniel Hughes in the tournament.

Live Stats can be accessed through links at OVCSports.com. The tournament will start Friday at 8 a.m.

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