MOBILE, Ala. - Fresh off a third-place finish at Arkansas State, the University of South Alabama women's golf team returns to action Monday at the Troy Women's Invitational in Troy, Ala.
"There were a lot of positives coming out of that last tournament, and we'll see some similar teams and some good competition this week," head coach T.J. Jackson said. "Our goal is to continue to improve each tournament. We've done that to this point, and we want to keep doing that. We're looking for a good tournament because everybody has contributed, but we're still looking to put it all together in the same round at the same tournament."
USA had its first off week of the 2009-10 season after turning in its best finish since placing second at Southern Miss on March 24. The Jaguars look to continue their solid play at the Troy Women's Invitational, where they also took second place a season ago. However, last year's tournament was at Arrowhead Country Club, while this season's event is at Troy's home course, Troy Country Club.
"It's a different golf course, so that changes everything," Jackson said. "Troy practices and plays at this golf course, so they should have an advantage. They're a much-improved team and they'll be a big challenge for us, but it's just like any other tournament - we're going to play a golf course that we're not used to seeing, so it shouldn't be that much of an obstacle. It might have helped to play the course from last year, but we've got new players who haven't seen that course, so I don't think it would've been much of a factor."
Freshman Fanny Eineren has led the Jags in each of their first two tournaments this year. She tied for 28th at the Waterlefe Invitational, then took third place with a 36-hole total of 151 at the Lady Red Wolves Classic.
Sophomore Anna Sellen-Runefjell turned in a two-round total of 159 last time out, while senior Claudia Wolf tied for 27th at 160. Junior Nina Offenberg shot 163, while sophomore Ana Garcia rebounded from a difficult first round to shoot a much-needed 78 in the second. USA has traveled five of six golfers to each of this season's first two tournaments, but Jackson said all six will get the change to gain experience at Troy.
The Jaguars played their first two tournaments on consecutive weekends, but this time they took advantage of an extra week off to tune up for Troy.
"We focused on individual practices, we worked on different things with each practice, and we're just trying to identify those areas that need to be worked on, while also trying to identify what has been very good so that we don't let that slide," Jackson said. "We've had good practices, so we should be ready to go."
USA plays 36 holes on Monday and 18 on Tuesday at the par-72, 6,005 yard course.
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).
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