Troy University Athletics
Men's Golf Stand Fourth at 292 after Opening Round of Sun Belt Championship
4/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Golf
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- Jay Harris and Brandon Anthony each shot one-under 71 Tuesday morning to lead Troy to a team score of 292 in the opening round of the Sun Belt Conference Championship. The duo is tied for seventh, while the Trojans stand in fourth place, six strokes out of the lead.
Western Kentucky is the team leader at two-under 286, but seven teams are within 10 strokes. Hilltopper Brent Long led the individual field at five-under 67.
After eight straight pars, Harris made the turn in one-under with a birdie on nine. He bogeyed 10 and 11 before rattling off three straight birdies. In total, he registered six birdies in the round.
"The course was amazing," said Harris. "I battled a shaky putter all day long. It was an up-and-down day. When you have weather like this and a course like this, you expect that. You get rewarded for good shots and penalized for bad shots. We had an advantage going off early."
Anthony birdied one and six, but was even-par through 10 holes. He eagled 12 by rolling in a 20-footer from the back of the green, but saw his luck turn on 17 when his drive was plugged in a bunker. The up-and-down after the blasting out resulted in bogey.
"It was a fun day... I hit the ball really well," Anthony said. "Toward the end, I started missing greens, but the putter was working. The wind picked up and it was getting tougher. You just had to grind it out."
Donnie Parker posted a one-over 73, tying for 17th, while Michael McGrady turned in a five-over 77 (tied for 32nd). Steve Sims triple-bogeyed two of the final five holes to drop to eight-over par 80. He is tied for 43rd.
"It was a pretty good start to our first Sun Belt Conference Championship" We did a lot of good things today, but we gave a lot of shots away. Hopefully, we can play well tomorrow, then wake up Wednesday morning with a chance to win."
The second round tees off Tuesday morning at 8 a.m. The Trojans are in pairings from 9:20 to 9:56.
