The Eastern men’s golf team played its worst round of the three days on Wednesday to finish last out of 11 teams in the Ohio Valley Conference tournament.

Sophomore Alvaro Hernandez was the highest finisher for Eastern, as he tied for 15th place. Hernandez shot a 75 in the final round after shooting a 73 in the first two rounds. Hernandez had an overall score of 221 in the tournament. Freshman Romeo Perez was the next best finisher, tied for 49th. Perez shot an 83 in the final round and finished with a total score of 242.

Sophomore Charlie Adare finished in 53rd after shooting an 82 in round three and a total score of 248. Freshman Grant Miller was right behind him in 54th, and junior Alex Gowin was in 55th. Miller had a total score of 267, and Gowin finished with a total score of 268.

Jacksonville State jumped up three spots in the final day to win the OVC Championship. As a team, Jacksonville State finished two over par and a final score of 866. Eastern Kentucky was just edged out by Jacksonville State as they lost by just one stroke. Jacksonville State shot nine strokes better than Eastern Kentucky to steal the conference championship.

Southern Illinois-Edwardsville finished in third place with a total score of 870, followed by Tennessee-Martin (888) and Murray State (889). Tennessee Tech (890) fell three spots on the final day to finish in a three-way tie for sixth with Austin Peay and Morehead State. Tennessee State (926) and Eastern (967) round out the team standings.

This is the first-time Jacksonville State has won the conference tournament since 2014. 2014 was the last time the tournament was 36 holes. Now it is 54 holes.

The defending champion Hunter Richardson of Tennessee-Martin and Jacksonville State’s Bobby Hayes needed a playoff to decide the individual champion. Richardson shot a 73 in the final round and Hayes shot a 72 to finish with totals of 212. Will Sallee moved up three spots to finish in third place with a final score of 215.

There was a five-way tie for fourth place, with each player finishing even. The tie was between Southern Illinois Edwardsville’s Luke Long and Conor Dore, Morehead State’s Cooper Collins, Tennessee Tech’s Charles Seals and Jacksonville State’s Daniel Pico who moved up 11 spots in the final day. Eastern Kentucky’s Erik Lindwall and Noah Combs earned ninth and tenth place.

This year marks the third straight year that Eastern finished in last place of the conference championship.

Shanahan can be reached at 581-2812 or mmshanahan@eiu.edu