Troy University Athletics
Sunday, April 19
Destin, Fla.
All Day
Troy University
vs
Sun Belt Championship
Players Mentioned
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/ Golf (M)
/ Golf (M)
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Photo by: Todd Drexler
No. 55 Troy Sets Sights on Sun Belt Men’s Golf Title
4/18/2015 10:05:00 AM | Golf (M)
MIRAMAR BEACH, Florida – The No. 55 Troy men's golf team is 54 holes away from its first Sun Belt Conference Championship as play opens at the Raven Golf Course on Sunday for the three-day event.
Standing between the Trojans and the Sun Belt's automatic berth into the NCAA Championships is 10 other league foes, including No. 43 Georgia Southern and No. 62 Georgia State. Behind six finishes in the top four in its nine tournaments this year, Troy brings an 81-41 overall record with it to the Sun Belt Championship.
However, Troy comes to Miramar Beach with a sour taste in its mouth following a disappointing finish in its final tournament of the year, one it played without Jared Bettcher, who owns the lowest stroke average on the team (72.96).
"I think it is pretty good that we played poorly in our last event, as it woke the guys up a little bit," head coach Matt Terry said. "We had a good week of practice in preparation for the Sun Belt Championship. Our guys are used to the golf course, as we've been down here before. We know we're going to have some bad weather, and we might not get to play a practice round, hopefully that will be an advantage to us knowing we've seen the course."
Bettcher has a pair of rounds of 65 this season, which are the lowest in school history, and is Troy's strongest finisher with a 72.5 average in the final round of tournaments this year. The sophomore from Auburn, Ala., has four rounds in the 60s and five under par.
"Jared looks fresh and ready to go after taking the last tournament off," Terry said. "He is way healthy this time than last year at Sun Belt when he was battling several illnesses. I'm sure he wants a little bit of get-back at the conference championship and so do the rest of the guys on the team.
"We were not very pleased with what happened last year, but that is not going to be the focus," Terry said. "We are going to go out there each day and play as well as we can and hopefully be in the mix Tuesday morning."
Terry will turn to another sophomore, and probably his most consistent player this year, Luke Moser to throw counting scores on the board. Moser enters with a 73.43 average on the year, but only has a pair of rounds under par – both in the 60s. However, his score has counted towards the team card 93.5 percent of the time this year.
The remainder of Troy's lineup will feature a senior trio that has played together for four years. Jake Tucker leads the Trojans with nine rounds under par and is tied with Bettcher with four rounds in the 60s. The lefty brings a 73.54 stroke average to the conference championship and an 82.7 success rate for his score to count on the team card.
Tolver Dozier has been a strong starter for the Trojans and is coming off his sixth top 25 finish of the year. With six rounds under par on the year, Dozier is averaging 73.85 strokes for the season and 73.40 in the spring. Phillip Brennan is the longest driver on the team with the ability to turn any par 5 into an eagle opportunity. Brennan has a 74.00 stroke average on the year with three rounds in the 60s and six under par.
Troy will join Georgia Southern and Georgia State on the opening day, as they will tee off at 8:15 a.m. on hole one.
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