CLARKSVILLE - Austin Peay State University men's golf team begins its fall season with the 2011 UK Bluegrass Fall Invitational, Saturday, hosted by the University of Kentucky, in Lexington, Ky.

The two-day, 54-hole event takes place at the University Club of Kentucky's Big Blue Course - a par-71, 6,988-yard Arthur Hills-designed championship course. Play begins at 8:30 a.m., Saturday, with the first two rounds in continuous play, followed by a final-round action, 8 a.m., Sunday.

"This is a golf course where you need to drive the ball in the fairway and play the par-3s well," head coach Kirk Kayden said. "It'll be important for us to have a good practice round, Friday, to learn the golf course."

Austin Peay returns three 2010-11 All-Ohio Valley Conference selections in junior Dustin Korte, along with sophomores Marco Iten and Anthony Bradley. That trio accounted for more than half of the Govs counted-rounds, last season, and again will be counted on to provide leadership on a team comprised largely of freshmen (3) and sophomores (5).

Korte leads the Govs five-man team, this week. Senior Drew Miller, who made a resurgence with a career-best 75.6 stroke average last season, gets the nod at No. 2. Bradley, Iten and sophomore Trey Tarpley round out the Govs scoring team. Junior Logan Loftus also will play as an individual for the Govs.

One trend Austin Peay hopes to break this year is falling out of contention with poor final-round play. In many cases, last season, the Govs finished the 54-hole day near the top in team scores only to struggle through the final 18 holes. In fact, Austin Peay's best four-man scoring average, 292.3, came during second-round play.

"The guys have played well in qualifying and we've had some quality practices the first few weeks of the season," Kayden said. "We have some guys going that have good experience from years past and I think that will help our team this year."

Among the teams participating are OVC members Eastern Kentucky, Morehead State, Murray State and UT Martin, along with future OVC member Belmont. Also in the field are host Kentucky, Butler, Dayton, Evansville, Lipscomb, Marshall, Valparaiso, Wright State and Youngstown State.

This will be the Govs second appearance at Kentucky's tournament, an event typically played in the spring. In 2008-09, Austin Peay's Erik Barnes won the event with a one-under 215, leading the Govs to a fourth-place finish.

-AP-