Jill Odom
Sports Editor
The men’s golf team finished up the Sun Belt Championship in fifth place after dropping from second place during the final round on Monday, April 21.
The No. 55 Trojans traveled to Miramar Beach, Florida, to compete for the conference title at the Raven Golf Course.
Among the competitors were No. 43 Georgia Southern and No. 62 Georgia State.
Troy arrived at Miramar Beach coming off a loss, placing 13 out of 15 at the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship.
“I think it is pretty good that we played poorly in our last event, as it woke the guys up a little bit,” head coach Matt Terry said.
On Sunday, April 20, Troy played 36 holes and claimed second place after two rounds of golf. The weather caused the event to be delayed for an hour.
Troy shot a 290 in the first round and finished with a 284 after the second round.
The Georgia Southern Eagles led the Trojans by 20 shots. Georgia Southern trailed on Troy’s heels, only one shot behind.
Sophomore Jared Bettcher shot two under in his first round with a 69 and made par in the second round with a 71.
Bettcher was tied for fourth after the second round and sophomore Luke Moser finished his two rounds tied for eighth.
Senior Jake Tucker finished his rounds with a 72 and 74, respectively. Tucker tied for 23rd.
Senior Phillip Brennan had a major turnaround between his two rounds, starting off with 10 over par in the first round and finishing his second round two shots under.
Georgia Southern’s individual golfers also claimed the top-three spots on the leaderboard.
Troy dropped in the ranks on Monday, April 21, and came in fifth after shooting 11 over par.
Georgia Southern snatched away Troy’s chances at finally winning its first Sun Belt Conference Championship and its berth in the NCAA Championship.
However not all was lost as Bettcher was able to clench third place in the individual events and push out Georgia Southern’s junior Andrew Klasing.
Tucker also advanced from being tied from 23rd to being tied for 17th.
Moser, Brennan and senior Tolver Dozier all dropped down the leaderboard.
