Michael Shipma
Sports Editor
The Troy men’s golf team did not shy away from top-50 competition over the weekend, placing eighth out of 14 teams at the Mason Rudolph Championship hosted by Vanderbilt.
The Trojans ended the first round of play on Friday in ninth and made the move up to eighth on the third and final day of competition on Sunday. Troy was able to finish ahead of No. 43 Liberty, one of nine top-75 teams in the field.
Equally as impressive were two Trojans finding themselves in the top-20 individual standings when it was all said and done.
Senior Luke Moser was the highest-placing Trojan in the tournament, shooting 3-under par in the third round to finish 6-under 210 overall. That score was good enough for a tie for 15th. Sharing that spot with Moser was teammate and sophomore Calum Masters, who fell 13 spots after a 2-under score in the first round. Two rounds of an even par helped to stop the bleeding and keep Masters in the top 20.
There was a much bigger gap between the top two Trojans and the rest of their team as Clayton Vannoy finished in an uncharacteristically low 43rd place followed by Jared Bettcher in 45th. Bettcher used a strong third round to move from 58th to his final placement.
Senior Cam Norman rounded out the field for the Trojans with a tie for 60th.
The Trojans will now have the Sun Belt Championships to look forward to with the first round of play coming on April 23. The three-day tournament will be held at Mirimar Beach, Florida.
