By Kevin Eckleberry

Sports Editor

This is familiar turf for the LaGrange College golf team.

For the third straight year, and for the fourth time since 2004, the Panthers will tee it up in the NCAA Division III tournament.

This year’s tournament begins Wednesday and runs through Saturday at the PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucia, Fla.

The Panthers are one of 36 teams hoping to walk away with the championship trophy.

“We’re not going down there just to make the cut,” LaGrange College head coach Lee Richter said. “We’re going down to win the thing.”

The Panthers have the talent, and the seasoning, to make a run at the big prize.

They have ample experience, with four players having played in two straight NCAA tournaments.

Seniors Alex Elorriaga, Ryan Willis and Anthony Yacovazzi and junior Bo Tiller played in the 2007 and 2008 NCAA tournaments.

Only sophomore Adam Garrett, a Troup High graduate, is new to the national stage.

Willis, who was the state’s Division III player of the year in 2008, believes the Panthers are ready to make a strong showing.

“We’ve done well. We’ve worked pretty hard,” said Willis, who finished second at this season’s Berry College Invitational. “Hopefully we can play well as a team and be in contention to win this thing. Hopefully we’ll all play well, and we’ll see what happens.”

Yacovazzi, who had a team-best 72 during one of the rounds at last year’s NCAA tourney, said this is the week the team has been focused on.

“You want to reach the national championship. That’s the biggest event in college,” he said. “In every sport, you’re trying to compete for a national title. Hopefully we’ll go out there and play well and use that experience from the past ones.”

Elorriaga said the Panthers weren’t at their best in the regular-season ending event, the Emory Invitational, where they finished eighth.

He’s glad the players, especially the seniors, have one more tournament to play.

“We didn’t play too good to end the season. It’s our last tournament, so we’ve got to end good,” Elorriaga said. “This is the best tournament to go to. We’re going to probably the best course we’ve played.”

Garrett, who has played in every fall and spring tournament, said the Panthers’ second-place showing at the Berry Invitational was eye-opening.

The tournament featured some of the country’s best NAIA teams, and the Panthers lost by one stroke to Berry.

“We went to the Berry Invitational, and we got to play a bunch of teams on scholarships,” Garrett said. “It’s awesome to know we can hang with those guys.”

Richter, whose team consistently posted high finishes in tournaments with powerful fields, said the key this week will be having all five golfers playing well.

“It seems like every tournament, we have one guy that’s off his game,” Richter said. “We haven’t really clicked as a team. If we can go down there and have everybody clicking at one time, we can win it.”