Knoxville’s 90 degree heat set the stage for the Mizzou men to ‘warm up’ at their first tournament of the season.
The Tigers rebounded to tie for 8th place at the Visit Knoxville Collegiate, shooting a collective -5 for three rounds. After a +4 first round, they reversed course and totaled -5 for the second round and -4 for the third.
Mierl leads Mizzou in scoring
Junior Trent Mierl led Mizzou and tied for 8th place overall. He shot 71-67-68 for a -4 total.
Following Mierl, senior Veikka Viskari and junior Paxton Maxwell tied for 25th at -1. Viskari shot 72-68-69 and Maxwell shot 71-70-68. This was Maxwell’s debut representing Mizzou after transferring from Utah Valley University.
Despite shooting the team’s leading score in the first round, freshman Antoni Hawkins was Mizzou’s fourth and final scorer with a +3 total. He shot 70-70-73 and tied for 47th place.
Junior transfer Andy Yang and senior Brock Snyder followed up in 88th and 91st place, respectively. Yang shot 76-77-70 at his first appearance as a Tiger and Snyder shot 77-77-71.
For half of Mizzou’s lineup, this was their first time competing as a Tiger — either as a first-year or transfer athlete. This is unusual in a sport with such a small roster, Mizzou men’s golf head coach Glen Millican said, but preseason interactions and a week of practices helped the coaches and athletes familiarize.
‘Rough’ patches
Tennessee’s Bermuda grass posed a challenge for some of the Mizzou squad. In this type of grass, the ball sits inconsistently and makes it tougher to accurately predict a shot, Millican said.
“It’s hard to hit the shot with as much certainty about what the ball is or is not going to do,” Millican said.
Mierl, who’s from Austin, Texas, has experience playing on Bermuda grass.
“He played that grass growing up all the time, so he’s just more familiar with… what the ball’s probably going to do.”
Hawkins, however, doesn’t have the same experience as Mierl. Bermuda grass isn’t common in Hawkins’ home country of Poland, so he hasn’t played on it much.
The team took advantage of opportunities to practice at Fox Den Country Club on Saturday and Sunday to acclimate to the grass.
Mierl also had a leg up on hole 11, an uphill dogleg left, which posed some difficulties for the rest of the team.
“A lot of our guys move the ball left to right, so our guys definitely have to try to manipulate the ball the opposite way of which way they normally do it,” Millican said, “with the exception of Trent. He moves it right to left pretty comfortably.”
SEC Competition
Host Tennessee logged a back-to-back first-place finish, which is their third in four years. They broke away with a strong -14 third round to finish fifteen-under as a team.
Seven SEC teams competed, with Mizzou posting the 5th lowest score. They trailed Tennessee, Vanderbilt, Georgia and Mississippi State, but finished ahead of South Carolina and Kentucky. The SEC Men’s Golf Championship is still months away, but this tournament serves as an early predictor for what Mizzou will face in April.
“To see some almost half the conference in the first event was great,” Millican said. “It’s a good opportunity to see what your golf looks like compared to the rest of the teams in the conference.”
The Tigers will compete next at the Canadian Collegiate Invitational in Ontario, Canada, starting Sept. 13.
