Mizzou concluded its fall season with a 12-over team score, placing fifth out of nine teams at Halbert National Golf Club.
The Tigers played Oct. 19-21 in Granbury, Texas, on the ultra-private golf course owned by biotech billionaire David Halbert.
The team played best in the first round, starting with a 2-under team score before scoring 5-over and 9-over the next two rounds.
Texas A&M dominated, taking the individual and team victories. The Aggies finished 17 strokes ahead of the second-place teams and the individual winner finished two strokes ahead of the second-place golfers.
Individual performances
Senior Veikka Viskari led the Tigers with a 1-under total to tie for 11th place. He shot 70-71-74.
Freshman Antoni Hawkins followed in a tie for 15th place, shooting 73-73-70 to end even-par.
Hawkins’ third-round 70 was the lowest of the team and marked the first tournament this season that he has scored progressively lower each round.
“That was a really good final round,” said Mizzou head coach Glen Millican. “It was good to see him come out and make a nice move that last day.”
Junior Trent Mierl shot 73-73-76 for a 6-over total to tie for 26th.
Senior Brock Snyder tied for 35th with a 10-over total, shooting 70-79-77.
Junior Paxton Maxwell shot 78-76-78 to finish 16-over. He tied for 41st.
The course
The brand-new 7,485-yard course, designed by acclaimed golf architect Tom Fazio, was enjoyed by the Mizzou players and Millican, but took patience and strategy.
“If you drive it poorly, it’s definitely going to be tough because there’s penalizing bunkers, and then there’s some native area-like buffalo grass once you get outside of the rough,” Millican said. “The guys had to have good concentration all the way around.”
Hole 8, a 200-yard par 3, was one of the toughest holes of the tournament, especially when the hole locations changed each round. According to Millican, it was difficult to get the ball close on the back part of the green.
Every Mizzou golfer bogeyed hole 8 at least once, and it took an average of 0.43 strokes over par to complete for all players.
There were also a handful of long par 4 holes, including 2, 4, 9 and 14, that required players to have good shots off the tee if they wanted to finish at- or under-par.
“If you hit a good drive in the fairway, it was fine,” Millican said. “If you didn’t hit a really good tee shot, they played kind of long.”
Hawkins did especially well on these holes during his third round, only bogeying hole 9. This, along with four birdies on the back nine holes, contributed to his lowest round of the tournament.
The Tigers will take a well-deserved break from competition and return for the National Invitational Tournament starting Feb. 1.