The first contest of the season can be nerve wrecking, regardless of the sport. Along with hype, the first tournament brings the first taste of live competition for all teams involved.
For the Troy men’s golf team, their first tournament of the year took them to the Squire Creek Country Club, located in Lincoln Parish, Louisiana.
There, the Trojans took on and defeated 17 other teams to bring home the Argent Financial Classic trophy. It is noteworthy that weather conditions were not on the team’s side, bringing adversity. Troy had to battle strong winds, a later draw time and the competition.
In fact, Troy’s first tee time was set for 12:10 p.m with Jason Quinlan doing the honors.
“It felt great; a lot of hard work even leading up from last year and over the summer just kind of culminated to our first team win of the year,” Troy men’s golf head coach Clay Bound..
Troy shot seven under par as a team to return home with some hardware, but it was not by a wide margin. Houston placed second, shooting just five under par.
There are many positives following an opening performance, especially one that ended in a win. The men of Troy left Louisiana with more than a trophy – they left with confidence and momentum.
“The confidence is high for us,” said senior Nick Fowlkes. “We just need to keep putting in the work; it obviously showed in the first tournament, and this is only the beginning.”
Fowlkes in particular returned to Troy with a lot of positives. Not only did Troy win, but he was also the team’s anchor during the trip. He led all Trojans shooting eight under par, placing second in individual rankings.
Fowlkes was joined in the top ten by fellow senior Jason Quinlan. In a field upwards of 80 players, no Trojan ranked in the bottom half.
“To go to a tournament with a lot of teams that we knew are competitive and that we wanted to beat to start with, to be able to beat them and bring the trophy back home, especially in the first tournament is definitely huge for us with momentum and confidence moving forward,” expressed senior golfer Jake Springer.
Troy men’s golf is slated to compete in 10 tournaments this year – 11 including the Sun Belt Championship.
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