• 2023-24 All-OVC Men's Golf Teams and Award Winners (PDF) | Photo Gallery
FLORENCE, Ala. – On Sunday the Ohio Valley Conference announced the winners of the All-OVC and OVC All-Newcomer awards for the 2023-24 men's golf season.
In additional voting, SIUE senior
TJ Baker was named the OVC Player of the Year while his coach,
Derrick Brown, was named OVC Coach of the Year. Additionally, Little Rock's
Rhett South was named the OVC Freshman of the Year.
The awards were announced at a banquet following the first round of play at the 2024 OVC Championship which is being held at RTJ at The Shoals in Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Play continues on Monday.
Baker enters the postseason with the top scoring average in the OVC (70.6) and is ranked No. 658 in the Clippd national rankings as of Saturday. He was named OVC Golfer of the Month in September and October and also earned one OVC Golfer of the Week nod during the season. Baker has finished in the Top 10 in six out of eight stroke play events during the season, including a third-place finish at Old Dominion in October. He is the first SIUE player to earn the Player of the Year award.
Brown, now in his 15th season at SIUE, guided the Cougars to five Top five finishes in stroke play events this season, as well as the Championship at the Carpenter-Chaney Match Play event, which featured eight total OVC squads. The Cougars won their own tournament during the Fall and were runners-up at the Grover Page Classic. It marks the second time Brown has earned the honor (2019 being the other).
In his debut season, South was an integral part in helping Little Rock, the defending OVC Champions, to a Top 100 national ranking. The freshman had a 71.4 adjusted scoring average playing in some quality fields during the year. His best finish was seventh at The Clerico hosted by Oral Roberts in October. Three times during the season he was the top finisher for the Trojans team. South is the first Little Rock golfer to earn the honor, in what is the Trojans second year in the OVC.
The 10-member All-OVC team was comprised of two graduate students/fifth year players, two seniors, three juniors, two sophomores and a freshman. Baker and South were each selections to the team while Little Rock teammates
Archie Smith, Magnus Lomholt and
Matteo Cristoni were repeat selections from last season. Two others, SIUE's
Brady Kaufmann and UT Martin's
Dax Isbell were All-Newcomer selections last year and moved up to All-OVC this season. The team was rounded out by Southern Indiana junior
Jason Bannister, SIUE senior
Luke Ludwig and Lindenwood graduate
Liam Bentein.
South, the OVC Freshman of the Year, headlined the OVC All-Newcomer Team. He was joined by Chicago State junior
Pablo Riveiro, SIUE junior
Brent Reintjes, and a pair of Lindenwood freshmen in
Gabriel Lindahl and
Juan Ballester.
The 2024 OVC Men’s Golf Championship continues with 18 holes on Monday and Tuesday. The team champion will be decided with Match Play semifinals and final action on Wednesday. Live scoring can be accessed through links at OVCSports.com.
2023-24 OVC Men’s Golf Award Winners
OVC Player of the Year: TJ Baker, SIUE
OVC Freshman of the Year: Rhett South, Little Rock
OVC Coach of the Year: Derrick Brown, SIUE
2023-24 All-OVC Men’s Golf Team
TJ Baker, SIUE
Rhett South, Little Rock
Archie Smith, Little Rock
Dax Isbell, UT Martin
Brady Kaufmann, SIUE
Jason Bannister, Southern Indiana
Magnus Lomholt, Little Rock
Matteo Cristoni, Little Rock
Liam Bentein, Lindenwood
Luke Ludwig, SIUE
2023-24 OVC All-Newcomer Team
Rhett South, Little Rock
Pablo Riveiro, Chicago State
Gabriel Lindahl, Lindenwood
Brent Reintjes, SIUE
Juan Ballester, Lindenwood