Trojans Looking To Build On Opening Win

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The Troy University women's golf team will experience a little something different this weekend as the squad prepares to play in the 2010 USF/Waterlefe Invitational in Bradenton, Fla.

The different feeling comes from the fact that Troy is coming off a tournament victory at ULM last weekend and will be among the hunted in a 19-team field at the Waterlefe Golf and River Club.

“I am really excited for the girls to get their first tournament win,” Trojans coach Matt Terry said of the victory last week. “It was the first one under my watch and it was a long time in coming. We have been down and up through the nine years I have been here and it is really exciting to see all of that hard work over those years pay off.”

The first glimpse that the Trojans were ready to turn the corner came last year at the Waterlefe Invitational. After struggling to an opening round score of 324, Troy broke the 300 barrier for the first time in the second round with a 298. A 304 in the final round left Troy in seventh in the tournament. The team has its sights set higher this year.

“These girls are doing the work they need to do,” Terry said. “We are excited about this tournament because the girls broke 300 for the first time last year at this event. This will be my first time at Waterlefe Resort and it is very much a target course.

“You have to be able to place the ball on the fairways and place the ball on the greens. The greens will be much easier than last week because they have less undulation and won't be as firm. The girls should be able to fire at the pins. We have some players who have been there before and know what to expect from this course.”

The team should also be familiar with some of the competition they will face. South Alabama and Sam Houston State finished second and third, respectively, last week at ULM and will take another shot at the Trojans. The Waterlefe Invitational also features the host team from USF, Miami, Southern Miss, UAB and Stetson in addition to Sun Belt Conference foes Florida Atlantic, Middle Tennessee and ULM.

“It is a very strong field with 19 teams,” Terry said. “We are going to have to play well in order to be in contention.”

To play well, a pair of seniors who struggled during the opening even last week will have to improve. The three other Troy players will be trying to build on the top fives each posted last week.

“I expect to see Liz Balkcom and Annelies Anderson play a lot better than they did last week,” Terry said. “They should step in and have a really good weekend. It will be good to see what Signy Arnorsdottir can do after a win, see if she can keep it going. She should be able to do that because she has a lot of confidence in herself.

“Sofia Bjorkman and Haley Lawrence I know want to get off to better starts to give themselves a chance to shoot lower scores this week.

Arnorsdottir took individual medalist honors at ULM, but Terry said there is still room for improvement.

“It is hard to improve off winning, but she just has to continue to develop who she is as a player,” Terry said. “She showed me a lot in that first tournament. She played a lot of fearless golf, but she played smart golf. She made some errors, but she made a lot of good decisions. It was interesting to watch her play.

“I know that there are players on her own team who will be gunning for her this week, and I hope that means the entire team will play better.”

The tournament will open on Monday with 36 holes of play on the par 72, 5,998-yard layout. The final 18 holes will be contested on Tuesday.

Troy University Athletics

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