After playing in tournaments all over the southern portion of the United States this spring, the Missouri men’s golf team finally got to compete on its home course in the Columbia Orthopaedic Group Mizzou Intercollegiate tournament. The Tigers played 36 holes on Monday and have a commanding lead going into the final round.
As a team, the Tigers are at 19-under-par and lead second-place Austin Peay State by 16 strokes. Junior Emilio Cuartero is the individual leader after 36 holes, shooting a 7-under-par on the day.
“I had two solid rounds,” Cuartero said. “Normally my putting is not very good, but today I was very happy with my putting.”
Sophomore Ryan Zech trails his teammate by only three shots, finishing at 4-under-par.
“I left a few shots out there,” Zech said. “I put myself in a pretty good spot to make a run tomorrow and help the team out with a couple of nice rounds.”
Junior Hunter Kraus and senior Jace Long finished the day at 2-under-par. Long was able to score in both rounds. Kraus only scored in the first round after shooting a 4-under-par 68. Senior Tommie Wuennenberg scored for the Tigers in the second round with a 2-under-par 70.
This tournament is the only home tournament for the Tigers this year, and they have fared well playing in their home course in the past. Zech is the defending individual champion, and Long won the tournament in 2011.
“It makes it easier to sleep in our own beds,” Zech said. “It’s a lot more relaxing. It gives us a huge advantage and I think you could tell out on the course today.”
Coach Mark Leroux said part of the advantage might have been lessened due to the condition of the course.
“It’s always nice to play on your home course,” Leroux said. “When you hit the ball, you have a pretty good idea of where it’s going to go. But this was the first time we have played on this course since they sped up the greens, so part of the advantage might have been taken away.”
While the Tigers have a comfortable team lead, Zech said the Tigers want to continue their success into the final round.
“It does not matter how we are doing as a team,” Cuartero said. “We always want to beat our lowest score.”
From an individual standpoint, four Tigers are in the top 10, and all look to be in contention for the individual title on Tuesday.
“We have a few of us with a chance to win,” Zech said. “It’s going to take one good round. It should be fun to watch.”
Tuesday will be the last round of play for Missouri until the SEC tournament April 19-21, and the Tigers will look to use this tournament to build momentum toward the postseason.
“This tournament gets us in the mindset of shooting lower and lower,” Zech said. “It will hopefully put us on top of our game at the right time.”