Troy University Athletics
Monday, April 25
Muscle Shoals, AL
Troy University
vs
Middle Tennessee State University
Trojans Hope To Play Loose at Sun Belt Championship
4/24/2011 8:59:51 AM | Golf (M)
LIVE SCORING | SBC GOLF CHAMPIONSHIP | RTJ THE SHOALS
MUSCLE SHOALS, Ala. – The Troy University men's golf team has been through plenty of ups and downs during the 2010-11 season, but the Trojans are hoping to close the campaign on a high when they open play in the Sun Belt Conference Championship tournament on Monday.
The event will be held on “The Fighting Joe” course at the Robert Trent Jones Shoals facility. The Trojans will join with the 10 other Sun Belt teams with single rounds of play on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
Despite the much improved play the Trojans have displayed during the spring semester, Troy comes into the conference championship ranked ninth among the 11 league teams. Eight of the Sun Belt teams come into the event ranked between 81st and 155th in the latest GolfStat rankings.
The Trojans come into the tournament ranked 141st in the nation, a ranking that took a hit in the final pre-championship tuneup last weekend at Georgia Tech.
“The guys are coming off a poor finish at Georgia Tech,” Troy coach Matt Terry, who was not in Atlanta for the tournament to be with the women's team at their SBC Championship, said. “The first round there was pretty awful for those guys and they have to have a short memory.”
The Fighting Joe course, named for General Joe Wheeler who was the only Confederate General to reach the same rank in the United States army following the Cival War, is one of longest courses the Trojans have seen and was the first course on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail to play at more than 8,000 yards.
“They have to be ready to play and ready to be aggressive in order to get after that golf course,” Terry said. “If the weather is as good as it looks like it will be, we will really have to post some good numbers.”
The favorites entering the SBC Championship will be North Texas (38) and Middle Tennessee (40), but Terry said there are a number of teams that could push their way into contention.
“There are some very good teams in our conference that come into this tournament playing well,” Terry said. “Middle Tennessee is good, South Alabama just won their last tournament and both of those teams can play well at any time. North Texas has had a huge year. It is going to be really interesting to see how we do. We have to get out of the gates well and play loose and hopefully put some good things together.”
Terry said the key for any of the teams to have success in the tournament will be limiting mistakes that lead to double and triple bogeys.
“I really feel that we are going to have to shoot under par,” Terry said. “You can't do that by going out and going after every pin. We need to make a lot of pars, take advantage of birdie opportunities and maybe one or two of the guys will get really hot and string some birdies together. These greens are absolutely perfect. We have to do everything right.”
Terry said the course the men will play on is different from the Schoolmaster course the women played last week in more than just length.
“The Fighting Joe is a little more visually intimidating, but I think the Schoolmaster is more difficult,” Terry said. “The Fighting Joe has a few holes with ponds and other things that are visually ominous. It is a big golf course and a big boy golf course. We have some guys who can really pound on it. We'll see what happens.”
The Trojans will be led by a trio of seniors who, barring a run to the tournament title, will be playing their final collegiate event. Zach Portemont has been the best of the three during the spring, but both Reid Merritt and Chase Whitehead are capable of playing their way into a top 10 finish.
“I think Zack will come back fine,” Terry said of Portemont's poor performance in Atlanta. “It was a difficult course they played last week. I am sure they have had some good practice without us there. If we can keep Reid Merritt hitting the ball straight, he should do well. Chase Whitehead just has to do his thing, be relaxed and play golf.”
The three seniors will be joined by junior Ricky Casko and freshman Nathan Kinch for the Sun Belt Tournament.
“Ricky Casko played well at Georgia Tech and should have some good vibes coming off that,” Terry said. “This is a course where he should do well because he does hit it a long way. I think that Nathan Kinch will finally come out of his shell after the spring. He has to get out of his own way in a lot of ways.”
If all five guys put their games together for three days, they will have a chance to be one of the teams pushing the favorites for the title.
Sun Belt Rankings (from GolfStat.com)
38 North Texas
40 Middle Tennessee
81 South Alabama
86 UL Lafayette
118 UALR
122 Arkansas State
133 ULM
139 Denver
141 Troy
155 Florida Atlantic
230 Western Kentucky
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