JOHNSON'S JOURNAL - Troy Gains Momentum as Fangmeyer Finds Her Form

Changing putters has given Troy women's golfer Laura Fangmeyer renewed confidence going into the Sun Belt Conference Championship tournament, which begins Monday at the Lakewood Club in Point Clear, Ala.

"I have definitely started to putt way better," Fangmeyer said. "When we went to Florida State (March 22), I had so many three-putts, and I was like, 'Oh wow, this is something that I lose a lot of shots with every round.'

"So, I changed putters, and now it's a lot better. I played with my new putter at ULM for the first time, and it worked out really well."

On March 31, the Austria native led the Trojans to a fourth-place finish at the 14-team ULM Invitational in Monroe, La., while finishing 12th overall individually at 2-over par (72-71-75).
Fangmeyer experimented with several new putters before finding one she was comfortable with.

"I was putting so bad that one day I was like, 'It can't get any worse; it can only get better,'" Fangmeyer said. "Or even if that doesn't work out, I can always switch back to my other putter."
There is no reason to switch back now.

"It just helps me hit the ball in the center of the putter every time," Fangmeyer said of the new putter. "That way, the ball rolls the same … it comes off the putter the same … or at least it's more consistent.

"It's a lot easier after you read the putt and decide on the line, and it actually goes where you want it to go. I feel a lot more confident now. When you make a couple of good putts and then get over the ball, you just feel like a different person."

Fangmeyer also believes the strong finish at ULM bodes well for the Trojans heading into Sun Belt tournament play. The team's top player this season, freshman Constanza Quiroga, only played the final round of the ULM tourney due to an illness on the first day, yet the team still managed to finish fourth.

"That was really important for us, because we struggled in the beginning of the season," Fangmeyer remarked. "It was good for us that even though our freshman, Constanza, was sick, we did pretty good (at ULM)."

Learning to Like Golf
Golf wasn't exactly a popular sport in Fangmeyer's hometown of Tulln, Austria. In fact, it took Fangmeyer quite a while to develop an interest.

"I started playing golf because my dad started playing golf, and he really loved it and would drag me to the course on the weekends," Fangmeyer said. "It's hard to like golf from the start, in my opinion, especially in the beginning for a kid … it's kind of boring.

"You keep trying to hit the ball and it doesn't go anywhere, and you're like, 'Why am I doing this?' But then I started to like it more when I was around a lot of kids my age (playing). I got excited to go to the golf course and just naturally got better at it.

"Then, I went to a high school, which was kind of like a boarding school, and it was just for athletes. It was similar to the college experience here. We would have workouts in the morning and golf practice every day in the afternoon and school in between.

"I was there for five years, and I played a lot of golf, and I would travel in the summer and play golf tournaments."

As a sophomore in high school, Fangmeyer began having thoughts of earning a college scholarship to play golf in the United States.

"There were other people who were older than me that would go to the United States to play college golf, so I was like, 'That's actually really cool, because I can get a degree and play golf,'" Fangmeyer said. "That's not really possible at home."

Fangmeyer connected with an agency called College Sports America, which helps facilitate athletes with colleges.

"You make your profile, take swing videos and do a biography about yourself and what tournaments you've played with your scores," Fangmeyer explained of the process. "They (College Sports America) make a profile for you that college coaches can look at.

"They're basically like this middle person communicating with you and helping you with the Visa process, which is not too easy when you're 16-17 years old and clueless about how to do all of it."

Attraction to Troy
Having never been to the United States, Fangmeyer wanted to find a place that was very different from her hometown.

After speaking with Troy's head women's golf coach Randy Keck, it quickly became apparent heading to Alabama would offer a comfortable environment.

"When I first talked to Coach Keck, I really just felt so welcomed, and he was so nice," Fangmeyer said. "I wasn't able to visit because it was COVID during that time and it was really hard to travel.

"On FaceTime, he would show me the facility, and he would show me the campus. It was so different because it's a small town in Alabama … so different from what I was used to. Like, I really wanted to go somewhere completely different and learn about that."

The culture of the southeastern United States also intrigued Fangmeyer.

"You see it in movies and stuff, but that was a big thing for me," Fangmeyer said of wanting to experience the culture herself. "I didn't really know too much about how life was in Alabama, so I didn't have a lot of expectations. I was so nervous before leaving. I was 18 or 19 and just got on a plane and moved to America for four years, basically."

Although she felt out of place initially, it didn't take long for Fangmeyer to fit in on the Troy campus.

"When I got here, I was so surprised, in a positive way, that everybody is so nice all the time," Fangmeyer said. "People hold doors for you everywhere. That still, to this point, shocks me.

"That's just something, that unfortunately, I don't think we have in Austria, or probably a lot of European countries. People are not mean, obviously, but they are not this friendly to strangers."
Frangmeyer also took a liking to a southern delicacy.

"I really like banana pudding," she said. "I had never heard of banana pudding at home."

Career Winds Down
With her college career nearing an end, Fangmeyer values her time at the university and is appreciative of the opportunities and experiences.

"All of my teammates have become such an important part of my life," Fangmeyer said. "The people really make the place so much better. Then, Coach Keck has always been here for us and will probably be here for us even 20 years from now if we want to call him.

"And then just traveling with the girls and seeing places I've never seen, and new courses and spending time together."

Fangmeyer is due to graduate in May with a degree in sports management. She then plans to return to Austria, work on her master's degree and hopefully gain employment, perhaps in the tourism field.

"I'm so sad that it's over," Fangmeyer said of her time drawing to a close at Troy.

But she'll certainly take many fond memories back home with her, and perhaps a recipe for banana pudding as well.

Troy University Athletics

JOHNSON'S JOURNAL - Troy Gains Momentum as Fangmeyer Finds Her Form

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