Troy, Mercado Finish Second at Hoover Invitational

Tuesday, September 19

Hoover, Ala.

All Day

Troy University

Hoover Invite

Troy, Mercado Finish Second at Hoover Invitational

9/19/2023 5:01:00 PM | Golf (W)

Final Results (PDF)

By: Troy Athletics Communications

HOOVER, Ala. – Alyssa Mercado and Jillian Friyia shot under par, and Troy went low in Tuesday's final round of the Hoover Invitational at the Hoover Country Club. The Trojans shot 3-over on the day to move up three spots into second place, while Mercado finished second individually.

The Trojans steadily improved as play continued, shaving 19 total strokes off from their opening round score to their 3-over 291 on Tuesday. Troy's final round score was four shots better than anyone else on the day and tied with Austin Peay's opening round for the lowest of the week.

"After what we knew was a pretty poor performance yesterday, we had a fantastic team meeting," head coach Randy Keck said. "This young team is learning what it means to compete for one another, and today they exceeded that expectation. We still have a lot of things to work on, but this team turned a big corner today, and I couldn't be prouder of them. Alyssa Mercado had a fantastic performance all week; she was a true leader this week on and off the golf course; we expect big things from her in the future."

Mercado was on fire out of the gate with three straight birdies after back-to-back pars to open her round. A bogey on the 12^th pulled her back to 2-under but a birdie on the par-5 18^th dropped her to 3-under before bogeys on one and two settled her card at 1-under for the second straight round.

She finished the week with 10 birdies, the fourth-most in the field, thanks to her work on the par-4 and par-5 holes, where she played a combined 4-under par, the best in the field.

Friyia shot 16 spots up the leaderboard thanks to the first under-par round of her career. The Trojan sophomore carded four birdies on the day and flirted with a round of 2-under after a birdie on the par-5 third. She tied for 21^st place overall, her best career finish.

Austin Peay withstood Troy's final round charge to win the team title at 26-over par, while the Trojans tied with UAB for second place. Troy won the tiebreaker with the Blazers, which was the drop score for both teams in Tuesday's round.

Four Trojans were separated by just two strokes and all recorded top-26 finishes, with Friyia and Bruna Roqueta tying for 21^st place at 15-over par, Laura Fangmeyer a shot back in a tie for 24^th place and Samantha Straight tied for 26^th place at 17-over.

Roqueta, who played as an individual, slipped a little in Tuesday's final round with an 8-over 80, while Fangmeyer turned in a 3-over 75 to move up a spot on the leaderboard. Straight also made a final move up the standings, climbing eight spots after shooting 2-over on the day. Katelynn Altese rounded out the field for the Trojans, tied for 30^th place at 18-over.

Team Standings
1. Austin Peay 291-301-298—890, T2. Troy 310-301-291—902, T2. UAB 297-308-297—902, 4. Samford 303-307-297—907, 5. Jacksonville 302-299-311—912, 6. North Alabama 307-312-295—914, 7. Stetson 315-311-299—925, 8. Tennessee Tech 310-317-308—935, 9. Queens 322-312-306—940

Troy Individuals
2. Alyssa Mercado 73-71-71—215, T21. Jillian Friyia 81-79-71—231, T21. 74-77-80—231, T24. Laura Fangmeyer 84-73-75—232, T26. Samantha Straight 79-80-74—233, T30. Katelynn Altese 77-78-79—234