The Troy women’s golf team is your new Sun Belt Conference Champions.
Four of the five Trojans in the three-day tournament placed in the top 25, helping lift Troy to its third conference title in the last four years.
It’s also the third conference title won by a Troy team this year following the men’s and women’s basketball teams’ recent success.
Troy, led by senior Fatima Cano’s second-place finish in the individual rankings, started off red hot, cooled off, then grinded down the stretch to edge Georgia State by only five shots.
“We got out to a great start, and it turned out we needed every one of those birdies that we made early,” Troy Head Coach Bart Barnes said after his team’s win. “It got really tight the last few holes. Obviously myself and Coach Terry were sweating it out all the way down to the end.”
In the tournament, there was only a 13-shot difference between first place and sixth place overall.
As a team, Troy jumped out to first place after the first round of play on Monday at the Robert Trent Jones the Shoals Golf Club in Muscle Shoals.
The Trojans were one of only two teams to collectively finish the day under par, shooting a 1-under 287 at the end of the first round.
Troy then hit a slump in the second round, shooting 12 shots over par. Lucky for the Trojans, the other nine teams in the field also shot higher scores across the board, with South Alabama and Georgia State being the only ones to shoot below 300 on Tuesday.
Troy then solidified its first-place finish with a strong third-round performance.
The Trojans, thanks to a 2-under from Cano and 4-over from sophomore Bianca Lohbauer, didn’t fall from the top spot in the rankings. Lohbauer placed 11th in the individual rankings.
Senior Becca Horner continued Troy’s Top-25 performances with a tie for 12th, moving up four spots in the third round after shooting a 4-under.
Fellow senior Gabi Oubre’ finished nine spots behind her teammate, tying for 21st place after falling four spots in the final round. Sophomore Lindsey Harrison rounded out the Trojans on the course by moving up six spots into 27th place.
“(I’m) super excited, really proud of the way my girls played today,” Barnes said. “It’s awesome to see Georgia State play so well. That’s what college golf is all about; it’s coming down to the wire knowing you’re playing for a championship.”
The Trojan women will now look forward to playing in the NCAA regional tournament starting May 8.
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