No. 24 Missouri men’s golf finished third in its final tournament of the fall 2016 season Tuesday evening at the Makai Golf Invitational. The Tigers shot -4 as a team for the tournament, which was held at Makai Golf Club at Princeville in Princeville, Hawaii, on the island of Kauai.
The Tigers recorded a top-three finish in each of their four tournaments this fall, and they finished with an impressive 51-4 overall record against opponents.
One of the most compelling storylines of the Makai Invitational was the play of junior Hayden Buckley. He played well from round one, firing a 66 to start the tournament. He recorded rounds of 66, 68 and 75, taking the individual lead through two rounds and ultimately finishing tied for sixth.
“When I was contending for the lead, I tried not to think about it,” Buckley said in a phone interview. “I knew where I was, but I just stuck to my game plan and unfortunately couldn’t figure it out in the final round.”
Even more impressive was the fact that the Makai Invitational was Buckley’s second tournament of the season. The Mississippi native had been recovering from injury but now appears to be in great shape and looks to play a huge part in the Tigers’ spring 2017 season.
“I didn’t do anything differently,” Buckley said regarding his performance. “I had so much more to play for after all of the hard work coming back from the injury. I had to put that much more effort into practice.”
Senior Euan Walker would finish tied for 18th at -2. He recorded consistent rounds of 73, 70 and 72 to cap off a solid fall season in which he finished each tournament with a net score under par.
Freshman Rory Franssen recorded a solid performance, tying for 26th at +1 for the tournament. Strong individual play from Franssen this fall, including a top-10 finish, has distinguished him as a key piece for the Tigers moving forward.
After a strong start that saw him record an opening round 69, sophomore Linus Lilliedahl would regress to an overall score of +3. He would finish tied for 33rd overall.
Playing as an individual, sophomore Preston Fleenor finished the tournament at +18 overall. Junior Trevor Ullestad finished with a +24 performance.
Ole Miss ran away with the tournament in the final rounds and won with an overall score of -33.
The next tournament for the Tigers is the SunTrust Gator Invitational hosted by the University of Florida. It will take place Feb. 18-19.
_Edited by Peter Baugh | pbaugh@themaneater.com_