Women’s Golf Set for Sun Belt Championship

TROY, Ala. – The Troy women's golf team descends on Daytona Beach, Fla., and the LPGA International Golf Course for the Sun Belt Conference Championship, which opens Sunday in the first of three rounds.

The Trojans enter the Sun Belt Championship 78-53-1 on the year thanks to a strong spring season that's seen them post a pair of third place and a pair of fourth place finishes. Troy ranks ninth in the Sun Belt with a 296.85 stroke average and 10.67 score vs. par.

"We are finally playing our best golf of the year," head coach Randy Keck said. "We've got our strongest lineup ready to go, and we're excited to have an opportunity to win a Sun Belt Championship if we play smart, quality golf. Whoever wins this thing is going to play three really quality rounds of golf."

ShaeLee Scarberry and Elisabeth Preus will be making their third appearance in the Sun Belt Championship, with all of them coming at LPGA International. Additionally, Scarberry fired a 2-under par 142 and finished second on the course as Troy won the Lady Cat Invitational in 2020 and Preus shot 4-over and tied for seventh.

"I'm most excited about ShaeLee and Elisabeth getting one more opportunity to win a championship," Keck said. "This team is going to give them their best chance to go out winners."

Scarberry leads the Trojans this season with a 1.73 score vs. par, the best of her career, with six rounds under par and five rounds in the 60s. All but one of her 30 rounds have counted towards the team card, and Scarberry has a 73.17 stroke average this spring. She has led the Trojans in five of her 10 tournaments played.

Preus has six top 25 finishes in her eight tournaments this year, with one round under par and 83.3 percent of her individual rounds counting towards the team score. She carries a 3.92 score vs. par into the Sun Belt Championship.

Keck will carry a pair of freshmen on his lineup in Laura Fangmeyer and Katelynn Altese. Fangmeyer is tied with Scarberry with six rounds under par and is second with 90 percent of her rounds counting. She carries a 2.85 score vs. par into the postseason, while Altese had four rounds under par, two in the 60s and a 75.67 spring stroke average, plus a hole-in-one on her resume this season.

Troy's secret weapon might be Alyssa Mercado, who is coming back to her home course. The Trojan sophomore tied for seventh in the Sun Belt Championship last year on the course she grew up playing. This year, Mercado is third on Troy's team with a 3.53 score vs. par. She led Troy with an eighth place finish at the Little Rock Classic back in the fall and has three top 25 finishes on the year.

"We have a lot of experience on this golf course with four of the six athletes that we're taking having played on it, plus the fact that Alyssa grew up playing this course," Keck said. "We know the course very well; it fits us and we won a tournament there a couple of years ago."

Women’s Golf Set for Sun Belt Championship

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Players Mentioned

Katelynn Altese

Laura Fangmeyer

Alyssa Mercado

Elisabeth Preus

ShaeLee Scarberry

Troy University Athletics