WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Little Rock didn't just win stroke play at the Ohio Valley Conference Championship—it dominated it from start to finish.
The Trojans delivered a historic performance at Purdue's Ackerman Hills, finishing at 28-under par to claim the No. 1 seed by 45 shots and place four golfers inside the top four individually.
"Very, very good performance today by the guys," head coach
Austin Eoff said. "Toughest conditions on the week so far and we played our best golf with the low round of the day by 22 shots."
Little Rock posted rounds of 5-under, 11-under and 12-under to separate from the field, finishing well ahead of UT Martin (+17), Tennessee Tech (+24) and Bryant (+33), who round out the four teams advancing to match play.
Capping the dominant showing,
Ed Featherstone was named OVC Player of the Year,
Viggo Talasmaki earned OVC Freshman of the Year honors, and Eoff was tabbed OVC Coach of the Year.
At the top of the leaderboard,
Mark Stockdale delivered a championship performance, capturing medalist honors at 13-under. He closed with a final-round 64, highlighted by a blistering 7-under front nine, to pull away from the field.
"Mark played fantastic all week long with some exceptional ball striking," Eoff said. "I'm very happy to see him get the win and his first win as a Trojan! Winning is hard to do in golf and he has earned it this week!"
"I just tried to stay patient and trust what I've been working on," Stockdale said. "To get my first win as a Trojan means a lot, especially with how well the team played this week."
Right behind him, Featherstone and
Elliott Simonsen tied for second at 8-under, each turning in consistent rounds to give the Trojans three players in the top three.
"Ed and Elliott both played great golf this week as well," Eoff said. "We had a three horse race to win medalist honors and it was great to watch as a coach have three different players have a chance to win today."
"It's been a great week for all of us," Featherstone said. "We pushed each other all tournament, and that's a big reason why we were able to play at such a high level."
Rhett South added a fourth-place finish at 1-over, while Talasmaki (+7) rounded out the lineup, as Little Rock claimed four of the top four spots and five inside the top 15.
"Very cool to see the guys finish 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 13th," Eoff said. "It speaks to the depth we have on the team and the guys committing to the strategy each day and keeping their mindset in the right place."
Featherstone's Player of the Year honor highlighted a season-long rise to the top of the conference.
"Viggo and Ed also earned season-long awards today that speak to the work and performances they have put in this season," Eoff said. "Ed has taken a big leap forward for us and to see his development from last year on second team All-OVC to the conference's player of the year has been great to see. He does an exceptional job of taking feedback and then going and working on that part of his game. His short game and putting have exponentially improved this season along with his mindset and they have allowed him to play some very solid and consistent golf this season. This makes our program earning OVC Player of the Year all four years we would have been in the conference."
"It means a lot to earn Player of the Year," Featherstone said. "I've put in a lot of work, and to see it pay off this way is really rewarding—especially doing it as part of a team performance like this."
Talasmaki's Freshman of the Year honor added to the Trojans' continued success with newcomers.
"Viggo had a lot of growth this season and is certainly still learning each day we compete but he has played some solid golf this year for a freshman and I look forward to seeing him continue to improve and become a very good player for our program," Eoff said. "He has all the tools and is learning how to use them. Very happy to see him get freshman of the year. Coming over from Europe and being thrown straight into the lineup and traveling every week and schoolwork can be a lot and he has handled everything very well and done a good job of adjusting. This is also the third year in a row we have had the conference freshman of the year as well."
With stroke play complete, the Trojans now turn their attention to match play, where they will face No. 4 seed Bryant in Wednesday's semifinal. No. 2 UT Martin will take on No. 3 Tennessee Tech in the other semifinal.
"Time to reset tonight and take confidence from the stroke play, but we are back to zero tomorrow for match play and need to continue to play good golf to win the event."
Little Rock will tee off from Hole 1 in the morning semifinal round, with the championship match scheduled for approximately 1 p.m. ET as the Trojans look to finish off a dominant week.
