Missouri’s men’s and women’s golf teams teed it up last weekend in their Southeastern Conference tournaments in hopes of securing good enough finishes to propel them to NCAA regionals.
The men, who traveled to St. Simons Island, Georgia, and the women, whose tournament was played in Birmingham, Alabama, ultimately finished 12th and 9th, respectively.
Although both finishes were less than stellar, the youth on each team speaks to the ongoing growth of the two programs. Here are some highlights from the weekend.
####Women
Heading into the tournament, the inexperience and youth on the women’s golf team was obvious.
Both teams, which were each comprised of five-player rosters for the tournaments, were young, but the women specifically started three freshmen and finished 9th with an overall 36-over score.
Two of the freshmen led the way for the Tigers. Amanda Kim, who hails from O’Fallon, tied for 9th individually at the tournament shooting 2-over, and Marrit Harryvan, who is from Winschoten, Netherlands, tied for 31st shooting 10-over.
“Amanda Kim was extremely solid for us this weekend,” coach Stephanie Priesmeyer said in the team’s news release. “We learned a lot and our players know they left some shots out there over the last two days, but we are ready to prepare for the postseason.”
The third freshman, Emma Allen, tied for 46th at 15-over, redshirt senior Michelle Butler tied for 40th shooting 13-over, and junior Jess Meek shot 21-over, which tied for 63rd and rounded out Mizzou’s score.
This finish places the Tigers in great position to compete in an NCAA regional May 5–7.
“Despite our finish today, we feel so motivated that our season is far from over,” Priesmeyer said. “We did not have our A game the last two days but there were definitely some highlights with our entire team. We played our way into a second round pairing with Alabama, the No. 1 team in the country and eventual SEC champs.”
####Men
Although the Missouri men’s golf team only started two freshmen, the tournament was a struggle.
The 2015–16 season as a whole has been somewhat of a rebuilding year under coach Mark Leroux and first-year assistant Grant Milner, and the tournament proved that as Mizzou finished 41-over and in 12th.
Missouri was led by junior Euan Walker, who tied for 18th individually shooting 8-over-par. Behind him in a tie for 38th was freshman Preston Fleenor. He, along with Rock Bridge High School alum Matt Echelmeier and sophomore Hayden Buckley, were competing on the SEC Tournament stage for the first time.
Buckley tied for 58th at 17-over, just behind Mizzou junior Linus Lilliedahl who tied for 52nd shooting 15-over. And then, in a tie for 64th, Echelmeier shot 18-over.
Although the finish almost certainly places Mizzou outside of the NCAA regionals, the Tigers are focused toward next year.
And with the late-season emergence of Buckley and others, the future looks bright.
_Edited by Katherine Knott | kknott@themaneater.com_
