Liz Balkcom's Women's Golf Blog

So I have written this blog about four times. Each time I get done telling about each team member, I go blank. Now I have plenty to write about.

This year is something that I have looked forward to for a long time, it's my senior year! It is also Annelies Bunnik-Anderson's senior year. We are both excited about starting this new season together. We have seen this team grow and change all for the better. Each year we see better players that challenge us both on and off the course.

This year we have a new addition to our team, Signy Arnorsdottir. Signy has traveled all the way from Iceland to be a part of our Trojan team. Thus far, she has really enjoyed the culture and atmosphere of Troy University.

Returning this year, are our two Swedish girls, Sofia Bjorkman and Sara Fennvik. They spent the summer working and practicing golf.

"I am so glad to be in Troy, on the golf course," Sofia said.

Returning for the third year as a junior is Haley Lawrence. She has been working hard both on and off the course. She is practicing hard and studying a lot because she is an athletic training major.

We left Troy University on Saturday, September 25, to travel to ULM's tournament in Monroe, La. We were upset that we could not stay and watch the football game, but we also knew we were going to do what we do best, play golf.

Saturday night we decided as a team that we should relax and go to the movies. So that is just what we did as a team, we went to see "Easy A". I recommend it. Good movie.

Sunday morning we played our practice round. The first thing we noticed was the course was set up similar to our home course, Troy Country Club. The greens were about one or two paces faster than what we were use to; so after our practice round we worked on adjusting to the pace of the greens.

We left the course on Sunday with our heads held high because we each knew we had put in work before we came to the tournament.

Monday morning came quickly. We have a new freshman, so on game day we had to teach her our routines. We ate breakfast as a team first thing in the morning. Once we arrived at the course, we did our team stretches. Then we have a quick team pep talk.

Right before we leave to go to our individual holes, I pulled the team together and reminded them that we have worked hard to get here and be patient because 36 holes in one day and can be very long.

Off we went to play a long 36 holes with South Alabama and McNeese State.

At the end of a long day, we were sitting in second place. We were only three shots off the lead and our freshman, Signy, was leading the whole tournament as an individual. Sofia and Haley were not too far behind.

Our team was looking sharp. We posted a 309 the first round and 314 for the second.

Annelies and I really struggled with the pace of the greens. So, after the first day, we stayed and practiced our putting.

Tuesday morning rolled around and we knew, as a team, that if we really wanted this tournament, it could be ours. We went through our normal game day routine. We stayed positive and kept reminding ourselves that we were prepared to play like we had the desire to win.

Before we teed off, the team huddled together and we reminded ourselves to dig deep. We only had one round to play and every shot counts. With that statement, we were off for our third round of golf in two days.

In the end, we found our game as a team. We won the whole tournament. We were victorious over 11 other teams.

Here were our round-by-round scores.

Signy 71-73-75
Haley 79-77-71
Sofia 79-76-75
Liz 80-88-84
Annelies 89-89-82

Signy finished her first college event as a team winner and as an individual FIRST Place. Haley opened the season with a third place finish and Sofia was fourth overall as individuals.

There should be several videos with interviews posted on troytrojans.com.

Our next event will be in Bradenton, Fla., and we will leave on this Saturday.