The University of Southern Indiana men’s golf team has finished their regular season and will compete in the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championships next week in Springfield, Illinois at Panther Creek Country Club on April 17-19.
The Eagles in 2015-16
The Screaming Eagles won their first event since the fall of 2009 this past fall at the Dan Salisbury Memorial Invite hosted by the University of Illinois Springfield. The event was held at the same course the GLVC Championships will take place.
Challenging Weather
At the past two events for the USI, weather has created delays and tough playing conditions. High wind and cold temperatures at the Jewell hosted by Bellarmine University caused round two to be postponed a day. Rain and soggy course conditions were the story of last weekend’s Purgatory Regional hosted by the University of Indianapolis.
Sophomore Standouts
Sophomores Preston Van Winkle (Santa Claus, Indiana) and Kyle Tanriverdi (Pewaukee, Wisconsin) own two of the top-three scoring averages for USI. Van Winkle leads the team with a 76.84 stokers per round average and has three top-ten finishes in 2015-16. Tanriverdi has two top-ten finishes and a stroke average of 77.95, which is good enough for third on the team.
The Field
The 16-team field will include four conference teams ranked in the top ten of the official Midwest Region rankings. The defending GLVC Team Champion and 17th ranked team in the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA), the University of Missouri-St. Louis sits atop the current region ranking. The three other teams include Indianapolis in fourth, Drury University in eighth, Mckendree University at ten.
The Course
Panther Creek Country Club, located on Springfield’s southwest side, is a par-72 course and yardage of 6,770 yards. The Eagles won the Dan Salisbury Memorial  and thethe GLVC Championship will return to the course for the first time since the 2010-2011 season.
Last year
The 2015 GLVC Championship was held at Prairie View Golf Course in Carmel, Indiana. The Eagles finish in 11th-place. After shooting a 314 in round one, USI had only one player in the seventies during round two and finished the round with a 328. After round three, the Eagles had fired 960 strokes to seal the 11th-place finish. Tanriverdi was the top individual finisher carding a three round total of 232 to finish in a tie for 20th-place.
