By Ryne Rickman, UT Martin Sports Information Director
BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Less than 48 hours after a historic performance at the SIUE Dolenc Invitational, the Ohio Valley Conference has named University of Tennessee at Martin sophomore Dax Isbell as its Golfer of the Week.
Isbell becomes the 18th different player in Skyhawk history to earn an OVC Golfer of the Week honor and second in as many weeks, following teammate Jonathan Xoinis from Sept. 21.
Hailing from Cumming, Ga., Isbell put together the best round and cumulative score in the 12-year history of the SIUE Dolenc Invitational, held at Gateway National in Madison, Ill. He won the 92-man tournament by four strokes with a 197 (-16), which was UT Martin’s first 54-hole score below 200 since Jack Story (195 at the Murray State Invitational) on Sept. 9-10, 2019. It also bested South Dakota’s Jordan Rykal by two shots for the best score in the history of the event (previously set in 2015).
Entering Tuesday’s final round three strokes behind the leader, Isbell went off for eight birdies on the way to a microscopic 64 (-7), etching his name into tournament lore once again for lowest single-round score. It also marked a new career-best score, narrowly edging out the 65 (-6) he shot in Round 1. He followed that with a 68 (-3) in Round 2 on Monday afternoon.
With his first collegiate medalist result, Isbell became the first Skyhawk to win a tournament since Tate Chumley shot 7-under par at the TVA Community Credit Union Invitational on Oct. 18-19, 2021 in Killen, Ala.
Isbell finished atop the SIUE Dolenc Invitational field in par-4 scoring (3.74, -7) and eagles (two) while also ranking in the top-5 in the tournament in birdies (17, second), par-5 scoring (4.33, -8, third) and par-3 scoring (2.93, -1, fifth). He committed only four bogeys for the entire tournament and at one point went 27 holes without a bogey – shooting 13-under par in that stretch.
So far during the early portion of the 2023-24 schedule, Isbell ranks third in the OVC with a 70.1 stroke average over nine rounds.
UT Martin is back in action this Monday, Oct. 2 when it competes in the Bubba Barnett Intercollegiate, hosted by Arkansas State at RidgePoint Country Club in Jonesboro, Ark.
Graphic courtesy of UT Martin Sports Information
