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Cooper Collins finishes tied for fourth at OVC Championship

MSU Athletics

Freshman Cooper Collins opened with back-to-back rounds of 71 and closed with a 74 to finish even-par and tied for fourth to lead the Morehead State men's golf team at the 2017 OVC Championship at Robert Trent Jones at the Shoals.

Overall, the Eagles shot 26-over and tied for seventh. Morehead State posted 293-297-300 in the three round event.

"It was close to our best tournament of the year and that's the goal. We're trying to peak during this OVC Tournament. If you take two shots per man, per day, we would be right up there with the leaders," said head coach Matthew Martin. "I was pleased with the effort and how prepared we were this week."

After shooting 71 in the first two rounds, Collins started the final day tied for sixth place. He then opened Wednesday with bogies on three of his first five holes and shot four-over on the front nine. But, he responded by shooting two-under on the back nine to close the day at two-over and the tournament at even-par.

It marks his second top five finish of his young career. He finished tied for fourth at the Gary Freeman BCU Spring Invitational.

"Cooper definitely deserved a top five finish," added Martin. "He was coming off of an injury so a lot of credit goes to the training staff. He really worked on his game to get ready. He was really great, tee to green, and just needed a few more putts to drop. I'm incredibly proud and impressed with his performance and look forward to him leading our team next season."

Junior Blake Cartwright finished 29th at nine-over (73-77-75), junior Zach Smith finished tied for 31st at 11-over (77-74-76), sophomore Nick Wilkins finished tied for 33rd at 12-over (73-80-75), and sophomore Tyler Hillyer finished 46th at 23-over (76-75-88).