Riding the momentum that came from an exciting home tournament victory, No. 24 Missouri began an exciting postseason at the men’s golf Southeastern Conference Championship at Sea Island Golf Club in St. Simons Island, Georgia.
Missouri ended up with a T-7th team finish in the tournament portion, which was good enough to advance to Sunday’s match play. Ultimately, the Tigers were eliminated by the No. 16 Texas A&M Aggies.
####Tournament Play
Missouri competed in the three-round tournament portion of the SEC Championship on Friday and Saturday.
Freshman Rory Franssen had a standout performance in possibly the most important juncture of the 2016-17 season. Despite being the youngest player on the team, Franssen led the squad with solid finish in tournament play, tying for 13th.
Franssen became the only Tiger on the roster to ever shoot an entire SEC Championship event under par. He stepped up when it really counted, which was key to the Tigers’ advance to match play.
Junior Hayden Buckley finished just behind Franssen, as he shot five under par to earn a share of 16th place. For Buckley, the finish ensured his third straight event finish under par.
Senior Euan Walker finished tournament play one under par, placing T-33rd. Walker’s second-round 67 was the team low for the tournament and is also the second-lowest single-round score of Walker’s career.
Linus Lilliedahl followed up his championship at the Tiger Invitational with a 43rd-place finish. Junior Trevor Ullestad tied for 57th.
####Match Play
For the first time in SEC tournament history, match play would determine the champion of the tournament. The top eight schools advanced to play in Sunday’s match play. Quarterfinals and semifinals took place Sunday, with the championship pairing Monday.
Sunday’s match play ultimately saw Missouri fall 5-0 to No. 16 Texas A&M in the quarterfinals.
After a heroic effort during the tournament portion of the championship, Franssen fell in his quarterfinal match to Texas A&M’s Brandon Smith. In a battle of freshmen, Franssen trailed early but was able to cut the stroke lead to two on hole nine. However, the back nine belonged to Smith, who pushed his lead over Franssen to four, where it would stay until the match concluded.
In the second pairing, Walker faced off against Dan Erickson of Texas A&M in what turned out to be one of the more competitive pairings of match play for Mizzou. Although Walker held a one-stroke lead for most of the front nine, he eventually lost by a single stroke to Erickson.
Buckley was in the third pairing for Missouri, against Texas A&M’s Andrew Paysse. Buckley never held an advantage during the match and lost by four strokes.
Competing in the fourth match play pairing was Ullestad against fellow junior Cameron Champ of Texas A&M. Like Walker, Ullestad led by a single stroke early on the front nine but ended up losing by a single stroke.
After a rough performance in tournament play, Lilliedahl hung tough on the front nine in his match against Texas A&M’s Chandler Phillips. Lilliedahl yielded the match to Phillips by four strokes, as the Texas A&M senior turned it on after they made the turn.
The Tigers will wait until May 4 to find out where they will play in the NCAA Tournament. An NCAA regional berth is expected to extend the postseason for Missouri after the excellent season the team has put together on some of the toughest courses around the country.
_Edited by Eli Lederman | elederman@themaneater.com_
