Men’s golf comes out of the dark in Qubein Cup

Earlier this week, the Troy men’s golf team finished its fall campaign in the Qubein Cup, held by High Point in Greensboro, North Carolina, with the goal of finishing well and looking for improvements. The events throughout the week were nothing short of entertaining.

To begin the Qubein Cup, play on Monday was suspended due to darkness. As a result of that, Pablo Gracia was the only Trojan to finish multiple rounds and was tied for 34th with 9 over-par. Jack Lowery was 1-under in the second round, and Lee Poppell led the Trojans with 2-over.

Troy was down at 21-over-par when the suspension hit. Chattanooga led the competition with 10-over.

On Tuesday, no suspension hit during play, allowing the Trojans to continue play. Poppell continued performing well, shooting 2-over on the par-70 course. He notably cared for eight birdies as well.

Thomas Crane finished 9-over and tied for 17th, with Garcia bringing in three birdies of his own to finish tied at 29th. Lawton Emblom tied for 46th with 17-over, Lowrey finished tied for 53rd and Emblom finished tied for 69th overall.

As a school, Troy finished fourth in par 4s and tied for fourth on par 3s. Troy aso led the course in pars with 166. Troy finished the tournament in fifth place behind Loyola Maryland, UNCW, UTSA and Chattanooga.

Troy also finished ahead of two Sun Belt teams. James Madison was in sixth, with App State in ninth.

The Qubein Cup marked the Trojans' final play for the fall. They will continue in the spring on Feb. 7 when the Trojans go international and head to Cancun, Mexico, for the Compadres Collegiate at the Iberostar Gulf Club. This will be a three-day event.

The spring will also see Troy traveling to Florida for the Seminole Intercollegiate at the Seminole Legacy Golf Course and Mississippi for the Mossy Oak Collegiate at the Mossy Oak Golf Course. The Seminole Intercollegiate will start on Friday, March 12, while the Mossy Oak Collegiate will begin on Tuesday, April 13.

Action will also take place in Mobile between those two events, with Troy competing in the Mobile Bay Intercollegiate at Magnolia Grove on Monday, March 19.