Troy University Athletics
Monday, April 24
Miramar Beach, Fla.
All Day
Troy University
vs
Sun Belt Conference Championship
Men’s Golf Earns Top Seed in Sun Belt Match Play; Vannoy Tied for First
4/24/2017 6:37:00 PM | Golf (M)
Final Results
MIRAMAR BEACH, Florida – Troy earned a nine-stroke victory in the stroke play portion of the Sun Belt Men's Golf Championship and will be the top seed for Tuesday's match play final four. Teams completed the second round and played the entire third round on Monday at the Raven Golf Course.
Troy advances to play No. 4 Georgia State in the semifinals beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday. It will be a rematch of last year's championship match which Troy won 3-2 on Luke Moser's birdie on the first playoff hole of his match. The winner between Troy and Georgia State will advance to play the winner of No. 2 Georgia Southern and No. 3 Arkansas State on Tuesday afternoon with the Sun Belt's automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals on the line.
The Trojans shot 2-under in the second round to take a 10-shot lead into the final round which got underway at approximately 10:30 a.m. as the greens were recut and the pairings played straight through.
Clayton Vannoy was one of four golfers who tied for the individual title after 54 holes. The four played No. 18 for the first playoff hole and Georgia Southern's Steven Fisk pared the hole, while the other three golfers all bogeyed.
Vannoy carded six birdies in the final round to shoot 3-under as he climbed four spots on the leaderboard to force the playoff. He was forced to climb out of an early deficit after bogeys on his first two holes, but he made the turn even and birdied two of his final four holes.
Jared Bettcher grabbed the individual lead after dropping birdies on No. 11, No. 12 and No. 14 to get to 3-under in the round. The Troy senior held that advantage until the final hole when a stroke of bad luck led to a triple-bogey. Bettcher finished a stroke off the pace in fifth place after carding four birdies in the final round.
Bettcher put himself in contention with a 4-under 67 in a second round which featured four birdies and no bogeys and he finished 2-under 211 for the tournament.
Calum Masters turned in his second solid performance at a Sun Belt Championship as he tied for sixth place at 2-over after falling in a playoff hole for the individual championship as a freshman last year.
Luke Moser tied for 37th place with rounds of 79 and 75, but finished strong with birdies on two of his final seven holes in the third round. Cam Norman tied for 40th place after shooting 14-over for the tournament; he shot a 2-over 73 in the second round and an 80 in the final round.
Quotable – Troy Head Coach Matt Terry
"Our guys have played a lot of golf and been on their feet a lot over the past two days, but they battled through all the adversity and came away with the top seed in stroke play. Finishing on that top line is not only important from a Sun Belt seeding standpoint, but is also key to our national ranking as the stroke play counts as an official tournament.
"Our guys are comfortable playing match play and it has shown with our victories over Georgia and North Florida a couple Friday's ago and with how we handled it last year. Our guys are confident in their abilities, but we know we are in for a battle with Georgia State as they are a program that we have a lot of respect for."
Team Standings
1. Troy 284-282-289—855, 2. Georgia Southern 285-291-288—864, T3. Arkansas State 292-287-293—872, T3. Georgia State 278-301-293—872, 5. Texas State 292-291-290—873, 6. South Alabama 288-295-291—874, 7. Coastal Carolina 290-296-289—875, 8. Little Rock 301-289-286—876, 9. ULM 301-285-292—878, 10. UL Lafayette 296-297-290—883, 11. UT Arlington 297-299-292—888, 12. Appalachian State 297-304-298—899
Individual Leaders
*T1. Steven Fisk (Georgia Southern) 66-70-74—210, T1. Clayton Vannoy (Troy) 72-70-68—210, T1. Jake Storey (Georgia Southern) 68-71-71-210, T1. Luis Ruiz (Coastal Carolina) 71-72-67—210, 5. Jared Bettcher (Troy) 73-67-71—211
Troy Individuals
T1. Clayton Vannoy 72-70-68—210, 5. Jared Bettcher 73-67-71—211, T6. Calum Masters 68-72-75—215, T37. Luke Moser 71-79-75—225, T40. Cam Norman 74-73-80—227
MIRAMAR BEACH, Florida – Troy earned a nine-stroke victory in the stroke play portion of the Sun Belt Men's Golf Championship and will be the top seed for Tuesday's match play final four. Teams completed the second round and played the entire third round on Monday at the Raven Golf Course.
Troy advances to play No. 4 Georgia State in the semifinals beginning at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday. It will be a rematch of last year's championship match which Troy won 3-2 on Luke Moser's birdie on the first playoff hole of his match. The winner between Troy and Georgia State will advance to play the winner of No. 2 Georgia Southern and No. 3 Arkansas State on Tuesday afternoon with the Sun Belt's automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals on the line.
The Trojans shot 2-under in the second round to take a 10-shot lead into the final round which got underway at approximately 10:30 a.m. as the greens were recut and the pairings played straight through.
Clayton Vannoy was one of four golfers who tied for the individual title after 54 holes. The four played No. 18 for the first playoff hole and Georgia Southern's Steven Fisk pared the hole, while the other three golfers all bogeyed.
Vannoy carded six birdies in the final round to shoot 3-under as he climbed four spots on the leaderboard to force the playoff. He was forced to climb out of an early deficit after bogeys on his first two holes, but he made the turn even and birdied two of his final four holes.
Jared Bettcher grabbed the individual lead after dropping birdies on No. 11, No. 12 and No. 14 to get to 3-under in the round. The Troy senior held that advantage until the final hole when a stroke of bad luck led to a triple-bogey. Bettcher finished a stroke off the pace in fifth place after carding four birdies in the final round.
Bettcher put himself in contention with a 4-under 67 in a second round which featured four birdies and no bogeys and he finished 2-under 211 for the tournament.
Calum Masters turned in his second solid performance at a Sun Belt Championship as he tied for sixth place at 2-over after falling in a playoff hole for the individual championship as a freshman last year.
Luke Moser tied for 37th place with rounds of 79 and 75, but finished strong with birdies on two of his final seven holes in the third round. Cam Norman tied for 40th place after shooting 14-over for the tournament; he shot a 2-over 73 in the second round and an 80 in the final round.
Quotable – Troy Head Coach Matt Terry
"Our guys have played a lot of golf and been on their feet a lot over the past two days, but they battled through all the adversity and came away with the top seed in stroke play. Finishing on that top line is not only important from a Sun Belt seeding standpoint, but is also key to our national ranking as the stroke play counts as an official tournament.
"Our guys are comfortable playing match play and it has shown with our victories over Georgia and North Florida a couple Friday's ago and with how we handled it last year. Our guys are confident in their abilities, but we know we are in for a battle with Georgia State as they are a program that we have a lot of respect for."
Team Standings
1. Troy 284-282-289—855, 2. Georgia Southern 285-291-288—864, T3. Arkansas State 292-287-293—872, T3. Georgia State 278-301-293—872, 5. Texas State 292-291-290—873, 6. South Alabama 288-295-291—874, 7. Coastal Carolina 290-296-289—875, 8. Little Rock 301-289-286—876, 9. ULM 301-285-292—878, 10. UL Lafayette 296-297-290—883, 11. UT Arlington 297-299-292—888, 12. Appalachian State 297-304-298—899
Individual Leaders
*T1. Steven Fisk (Georgia Southern) 66-70-74—210, T1. Clayton Vannoy (Troy) 72-70-68—210, T1. Jake Storey (Georgia Southern) 68-71-71-210, T1. Luis Ruiz (Coastal Carolina) 71-72-67—210, 5. Jared Bettcher (Troy) 73-67-71—211
Troy Individuals
T1. Clayton Vannoy 72-70-68—210, 5. Jared Bettcher 73-67-71—211, T6. Calum Masters 68-72-75—215, T37. Luke Moser 71-79-75—225, T40. Cam Norman 74-73-80—227
Players Mentioned
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