With two trophies in two tournaments, the Missouri men’s golf team is solidifying its place in the Big 12 Conference. The Tigers won their second tournament in a row Tuesday at Old Hawthorne in the Columbia Orthopedic Group Mizzou Intercollegiate.

Coming off of the win at the C&F Bank Intercollegiate and having won this tournament last year, the Tigers really wanted to make this win happen, senior Chris Johnson said.

“We play better with higher expectations … as a team with no win here at home we would have been pretty disappointed,” he said.

Missouri ended up shooting a total of 856. At 8-under-par for the team, the Tigers blew away the competition. Second-place Iowa State was a full 20 strokes behind at 12-over-par 876 for the tournament. Rounding out the rest of the top five were Austin Peay at 16-over and IUPUI tied with Northern Iowa for fourth place, finishing at 23-over-par for the tournament.

Coach Mark Leroux was smiling after the win.

“This is all part of the plan,” he said. “Having that last win was planned into the schedule, so was this tournament at home.”

With the Big 12 Tournament as the Tigers’ next event of competition, translating the success into conference play is at the front of Leroux’s mind.

“Now we have to take care of business,” he said. “We have to make sure we beat the Big 12 members behind us in the ranks as well as a couple in front of us … we do that, we’re good.”

Freshman Ryan Zech led the tournament with a score of 208 for the tournament, a cool 8-under par total.

Other contributors that led to Missouri’s success and eventual win included junior Jace Long. Long won the individual title in this tournament last year as a sophomore. This year, although he didn’t win, Long shot a better round than a year ago. Shooting 213 or 3-under-par for the tournament, he secured a fifth-place finish.

“This gives us that extra boost in confidence … now we just need to build from this,” Long said. “Pedal to the metal.”

Sophomore Emilio Cuartero was also instrumental for the win. Cuartero finished in sixth place with a score of even-par 216.

The Tigers now have their eyes fixed on the Big 12 Championships, which will take place April 27-29 in Trinity, Texas.