Missouri men’s golf placed No. 12 in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina at the General Hackler Invitational, led by freshman Trent Mierl’s strong showing for the Tigers.

In a tournament that saw a strong field of competition, with four out of the sixteen teams ranked in the top 50 Division I teams, Missouri held its own throughout the tournament. Mierl and junior Virgilio Paz led the charge on day one, shooting a score of 71. The two teammates were tied for No. 14 out of 90 players heading into day two.

While Paz shot nine over par in the second round and dropped down the leaderboard, Mierl carried over his day-one success, shooting a 72 and tying the team-low for the second straight day. The freshman went into the final day of tournament play placing at No. 17, while the Tigers sat in 13th place.

Day three saw the best round for Missouri, with the team shooting a collective two-under par and jumping up one spot to finish No. 12 overall. Mierl had his best round of the tournament, shooting a 70 to finish an impressive three-under on the weekend. He placed No. 16 overall.

While Trent Mierl had his best round of the tournament on day three, he didn’t have the best score of the day for the Tigers. Mattias Varjun, in 79th place heading into day three, shot a 68 in his final round, a season-best for the graduate student. Varjun, who shot a 77 in both of his first two rounds, jumped up 31 spots on the final day to finish No. 48.

Sophomore Brock Snyder was next to place for Missouri, finishing No. 54 with scores of 77, 73 and 73.

Despite a strong first day, a ghastly second round saw Paz end in 69th place with scores of 71, 85 and 75. This tournament marks Paz’s second lowest placing event of the season, as he has been Missouri’s top scorer in five out of the seven events he’s competed in.

Paz shared the No. 69 spot with senior Trevor Mierl, his Tiger teammate who shot scores of 75, 77 and 75, respectively.

Sophomore Veikka Viskari rounded out the scoring for Missouri shooting a 77, 72 and 80. Viskari tied the team’s low score on day two and sat at No. 56 heading into the final round, but ultimately fell 26 spots in his final round and placed No. 82.

No. 1-ranked Auburn went on to win the tournament, shooting an astounding 33-under par over the weekend and continuing to dominate the men’s golf collegiate season.

Missouri’s highlight of the weekend was undoubtedly Trent Mierl, who recorded two eagles and only seven bogeys in 54 holes of action. He has shown consistent promise in his rookie campaign, finishing in the top 20 in four out of the seven events he has competed in this season. Besides Paz, Trent Mierl has also come the closest to winning a tournament, placing third in the Put Me In Coach Invitational back in September of 2024.

Missouri men’s golf headed down to Awendaw, South Carolina on March 23 to play at the Hootie at Bulls Bay, where the Tigers placed an impressive No. 5 in the tournament.

Edited by Colin Simmons l csimmons@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Natalie Kientzy | nkientzy@themaneater.com
Edited by Annie Goodykoontz | agoodykoontz@themaneater.com