The Eastern men’s golf team is set to play in the SIU Edwardsville Derek Dolenc Invitational on Monday and Tuesday.

The 54-hole tournament will start at 8 a.m. and all teams will play 36 holes Monday and finish the tournament with 18 holes on Tuesday starting at 8 a.m.

The tournament at the Par 71, 7,091-yard Gateway National Golf Links in Madison will feature six Ohio Valley Conference teams such as Austin Peay, Belmont, Murray State, Tennessee Tech, Tennessee-Martin and host Edwardsville.

Other teams that will be in the tournament are Bradley University, Chicago State, Missouri State, Omaha University, Oakland, South Dakota, Western Illinois and Mott Community College.

Last time out, the Panthers placed eighth in the Murray State Invitational last week.

The Panthers opened in fourth place after shooting a 296 as a team, but the team struggled the final two rounds and ended up in last.

Senior Austin Sproles started the tournament shoot a 2-under, 69 at the par 71, Miller Memorial Golf Course in Murray, KY.

Sproles finished the tournament with a 18-over, 231 after shooting a 79 and 81 in the final two rounds of the tournament.

Freshman Alvaro Hernandez is the most consistent golfer on the team this season and has had four rounds out of six in the 70’s.

Hernandez fired two rounds of 74 last weekend and a round of 77.

This will be the second straight tournament where the Panthers and Murray State have gone up against each other.

Last weekend, Murray State won the team title as the host of their invitational.

Brock Simmons won the individual title and finished 3-under. Simmons shot a three-round total of 210.

Simmons fired off a 70, 71 and 69 in the three rounds.  His teammate Preston French fired a low-round of 66 for the tournament.

French finished the tournament at an even-par, 213. The Racers had all five golfers shoot in the 70s.

Matt Sakutney shot a round in the 60’s as well with a 69.

The Eastern women’s golf team is off this week after finishing in 10th place last week at the Loyola-Chicago Fall Invite at the Flossmoor Country Club in Flossmoor.

Junior Chloe Wong and sophomore Anne Bahr tied for 33rd for the Panthers after shooting a three-round total of 250.

Bahr shot rounds of 82, 85 and 83, and Wong started the tournament with an 81 then fired rounds of 87 and 82.

The Eastern women will be back in action over the weekend at the Butler Fall Invitational for their third tournament of the season.

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