Missouri men’s golf placed No. 8 out of the 13 schools competing in the Old Waverly Collegiate Championship, the team’s final tournament of the year before the Southeastern Conference Championship.
Coming off its strongest tournament of the season at the Tiger Intercollegiate, Missouri failed to carry its momentum to the Old Waverly Golf Club. No player placed in the top 20 at the event. Junior Virgilio Paz and sophomore Veikka Viskari led the team, tied for No. 29 in the tournament.
Paz, one of two Missouri Tigers with an individual win on the year, shot a score of 74 in his first two rounds of the tournament. Placed No. 42 heading into his final round, Paz shot a score of 73 and moved up 13 spots on the leaderboard to finish as No. 29, marking the sixth time Paz has finished as the highest-placed Tiger in a tournament this season.
Viskari followed a different trajectory than Paz in the tournament. Coming off his career-best No. 5 finish at the Tiger Intercollegiate, the sophomore started off hot with scores of 74 and 69 in his first two rounds. His efforts put him one-under par and placed No. 21 heading into his final 18. In his final round – despite recording three birdies – Viskari shot a score of 78 and fell eight spots, finishing No. 29 in the event.
Sophomore Brock Snyder followed Paz and Viskari for Missouri. He shot scores of 72, 76 and 79 to place No. 45, two spots below his season average of No. 43.
Freshman Trent Mierl, who matched his career-best No. 3 finish at the Tiger Intercollegiate, found himself close behind Snyder. The freshman finished No. 52, recording a career-worst round score of 81 before getting back on track with scores of 75 and 72 to finish things off.
Senior Trevor Mierl, the older brother of Trent Mierl, was next up for Missouri. Trevor Mierl recorded a nearly identical score to his younger brother, shooting scores of 72, 81 and 76 to finish No. 58 in the tournament.
The most recent SEC Golfer of the Week, graduate student Mattias Varjun, brought up the rear for Missouri and finished No. 62 in the tournament. Coming off his first career victory and lowest career round score at the Tiger Intercollegiate, Varjun failed to repeat his success at Old Waverly. He finished the event shooting scores of 74, 74 and a season-worst of 83 to round out the Tigers leaderboard.
University of Mississippi won the tournament, delivering a remarkable 39-under par performance as a team and finishing 33 strokes ahead of the second-place finisher University of Alabama. The Ole Miss Rebels are currently ranked No. 3 in the collegiate golf rankings. As of April 11, the top-three-ranked men’s golf collegiate teams are Auburn, Texas and Ole Miss, which all compete in the SEC. While Missouri has been playing strong as of late, a conference loaded with competition will certainly give the Tigers something to prepare for.
Missouri will look to play the role of giant slayers on April 23 in St. Simons Island, Georgia, where the team will compete in the SEC Championship.
Edited by Killian Wright | kwright@themaneater.com
Copy edited by Natalie Kientzy | nkientzy@themaneater.com
Edited by Emily Skidmore | eskidmore@themaneater.com
