Following a successful fall 2016 season, Missouri women’s golf finished its first spring tournament in fifth place, at +12 as a team. Freshman Jessica Yuen led the team and placed 13th overall in the Florida State Matchup.

Missouri was one of 12 teams that participated Friday through Sunday at Don Veller Seminole Golf Course in Tallahassee, Florida.

The Tigers opened with a strong first round, posting a collective +5 overall. With 293 team strokes, the performance ranked in the top five for team standings. Yuen led the Tigers individually with 2-under-par 70.

“We had a pretty slow start this morning on our front side,” head coach Stephanie Priesmeyer said a media release Friday evening. “We had a few wayward drives that cost us early. We started to settle in and had a nice stretch of nice holes and connected with some birdies. Jess [Yuen] was very consistent, and really everyone had a lot of opportunities to make birdies today. I think those missed putts will become makes these next couple of days.”

After two rounds, the Tigers regressed to sixth place overall. Clara Young was the lone Tiger to not shoot over par in the second round, turning in a round of even-par golf.

“We had a better start today, but our middle was a little rough,” Priesmeyer said in a second media release Saturday evening. “When we made the turn, we struggled with holes one through three. We had a lot of good shots during our round but really struggled to hole out our good birdie opportunities. The team is in a good position to move up quickly once those putts start falling. We are really close to breaking out a low number.”

Senior Jessica Meek and sophomore Cayce Hendrickson shot solid rounds of 70 and 71, respectively, to close out the tournament on Sunday. The Tigers finished the final round in fifth place, at +12 as a team.

Yuen wrapped up an impressive performance overall at even par, 13th place overall individually. Meek finished tied for 25th at +2, with Young not far behind tied for 28th at +3. Emma Allen would finish tied for 33rd at +4, and Hendrickson would finish 43rd at +5.

Florida State dominated its hosted tournament, taking the individual and team medals. Morgane Metraux won the individual title at -11 for the tournament.

Up next for the Tigers is the Mountain View Collegiate Invitational, which will be held March 10-12 in Tucson, Arizona.

_Edited by Eli Lederman | elederman@themaneater.com_