The Missouri men fought through a rainy third round to keep their fifth-place rank at the Canadian Collegiate Invitational, hosted Sept. 13-15 at Öviinbyrd Golf Club.
Mizzou climbed from seventh place after the first round and held even for the next two to tie with Rutgers. The Tigers shot a collective 9-over in the first round, 1-over in the second and 15-over in the third.
Individual Performance
Senior Veikka Viskari had a strong second round and kept the momentum through the third round to finish in third place, which
gave him an exemption into the 122nd Canadian Men’s Amateur Championship in July 2027. He competed at this tournament in 2025, but Mizzou men’s golf head coach Glen Millican said it’s too soon for Viskari to decide if he’ll compete again.
Viskari shot 73-66-70 on the par-71 course to finish 4-under overall. He was the only golfer at the tournament to shoot a 66, which is also his lowest 18-hole score of the season.
Junior Trent Mierl was close behind, posting a consistent 72-71-72 for a 2-over total. He finished in a tie for ninth place, up from his 17th-place rank at the end of the first round.
Freshman Antoni Hawkins and junior Paxton Maxwell followed with a 15-over total, both tying for 40th place. Hawkins shot 73-77-78 and Maxwell shot 75-72-81.
Senior Brock Snyder tied for 49th place, shooting 75-76-79 for a 17-over total.
Junior Andy Yang, who was competing as an individual, tied for 66th place with a 24-over total. He shot 76-79-82.
The Weather
After two rounds of decent weather, the third round proved a rainy, chilly, gusty challenge.
“The wind makes it tough to control the golf ball, but then when you have the element of rain in there, you know, it definitely intensifies,” Millican said.
Despite the weather, Viskari shot 1-under and Mierl shot 1-over.
“It certainly was impressive to see those guys do that in those conditions,” Millican said. “You could put anybody in the world out there and if somebody shoots under par … they’ve played as good of golf as anybody anywhere in the world can play, and Veikka did.”
The Ninth Hole
The ninth hole, a long par-4 dogleg left curving around a lake, gave Mizzou some trouble, especially later in the tournament.
“It’s a 470-yard hole dead into the wind and the rain, and it was just quite hard,” Millican said.
Every Mizzou golfer except Viskari shot at least one bogey, with some shooting 4-over par in the third round.
Across the board, the ninth hole had the greatest over-par stroke difference of the tournament. In the third round alone golfers averaged 1.51 strokes over par.
The Competition
New Mexico dominated the field, finishing with both the team and individual championships and logging three top-10 individual finishes. Mizzou will compete against the Lobos again at its next tournament, which is hosted by New Mexico.
For the second time this season, fellow SEC team Mississippi State finished just ahead of Mizzou. At the Visit Knoxville Collegiate, they finished two places above the Tigers, and at the Canadian Collegiate Invitational, they finished one place above.
The Tigers will compete next at the William H. Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico, starting Sept. 25.
