• Complete 2018-19 OVC Men's Golf Award Winners (PDF) | Photo Gallery
MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. – Eastern Kentucky senior
Erik Lindwall was named the OVC Player of the Year on Sunday night at a banquet following the first day of play at the 2019 OVC Men’s Golf Championship. The event is being held at The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail at The Shoals in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
In additional voting, Austin Peay’s
Micah Knisley was named OVC Freshman of the Year, while SIUE’s
Derrick Brown was named OVC Coach of the Year. The All-OVC and All-Newcomer squads were also announced at the event.
Lindwall is eighth different Eastern Kentucky golfer to be named Player of the Year (that group has won 10 total awards) and first since Phil Hendrickson in 2008. Lindwall played in 10 tournaments this season, netting five top-five and seven top-10 finishes and going undefeated against OVC competition. He claimed medalist honors at the FGCU Homewood Hilton Airport Invitational in October and capped the regular season with three-straight Top 5 finishes, doing so at the Bobby Nichols Intercollegiate, the Golden Horse Invitational and the Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate. Lindwall earned a trio of OVC Golfer of the Week honors this season and was also tabbed the OVC Golfer of the Month for March. He enters the OVC Championship with a 71.7 stroke average and a 228 GolfStat National Ranking (both of which are tops in the OVC).
Knisley is the third Austin Peay golfer to be named Freshman of the Year since it was first awarded in 2005, joining Grant Leaver (2005) and Erik Barnes (2007). He had two top 20 finishes during the season including an 11th place finish out of 88 competitors at the Wofford Invitational earlier this month. He enters this week as the top-ranked OVC freshman in the GolfStat national rankings. In 25 total rounds this season he averaged 74.8 strokes per round.
Brown earned his first OVC Coach of the Year honor. He took over as the head of the SIUE program in 2010-11, helping the team complete the transition to Division I; SIUE first competed at the OVC Championships in 2013. This season SIUE averaged 290.4 strokes per round this season, tops in the OVC. The Cougars won two tournaments (the SIUE Derek Dolenc Invitational in September and the Twins Oaks Intercollegiate in March) and finished in top-five in six of 10 tournaments.
The 10-member All-OVC team was comprised of five seniors, two juniors and three sophomores. The team included five repeat selections from last year including Lindwall, SIUE senior
Kyle Slattery, Austin Peay sophomore
Chase Korte, Morehead State junior
Cooper Collins and Jacksonville State sophomore
Jesus Montenegro. The team was rounded out by Jacksonville State senior
Benedikt Thalmayr and sophomore
Quim Vidal Mora, Belmont senior
Daniel Booker, UT Martin junior
Ross Redmont and SIUE senior
Conor Dore.
Knisley, the OVC Freshman of the Year, headlined the five-person All-Newcomer squad. He was joined by Eastern Kentucky senior
Martin Eliasson and junior
Andreas Nielsen, SIUE freshman
Brooks Jungbluth and Tennessee Tech freshman
Bryce Beeler.
The 2019 OVC Men’s Golf Championship continues with 18 holes on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday. Live scoring can be accessed through links at OVCSports.com.
2018-19 OVC Men’s Golf Award Winners
OVC Player of the Year: Erik Lindwall, Eastern Kentucky
OVC Freshman of the Year: Micah Knisley, Austin Peay
OVC Coach of the Year: Derrick Brown, SIUE
2018-19 All-OVC Men’s Golf Team
Erik Lindwall, Eastern Kentucky
Kyle Slattery, SIUE
Benedikt Thalmayr, Jacksonville Statee
Chase Korte, Austin Peay
Quim Vidal Mora, Jacksonville State
Cooper Collins, Morehead State
Daniel Booker, Belmont
Ross Redmont, UT Martin
Conor Dore, SIUE
Jesus Montenegro, Jacksonville State
2018-19 OVC All-Newcomer Team
Micah Knisley, Austin Peay
Martin Eliasson, Eastern Kentucky
Brooks Jungbluth, SIUE
Andreas Nielsen, Eastern Kentucky
Bryce Beeler, Tennessee Tech