April 16, 2002
Jonesboro, Ark. - After finishing just one shot shy of winning its last tournament, the University of Missouri Men's Golf Team again came oh so close to claiming its first title of the season, but again came up just short as the Tigers finished 3rd at the ASU Indian Classic, which wrapped up today with 18 holes of play at RidgePointe Country Club in Jonesboro, Ark.
Missouri finished just three shots off the pace set by champion and host Arkansas State, just after finishing 2nd to Kansas by one shot at the Stevinson Ranch Invitational at the end of March. The Indians staged a comeback to claim their own tournament, as they began the day in 2nd place, seven strokes behind South Alabama, who led after Monday's 36 holes of play. Mizzou stood 4th after Monday, 13 shots off the lead, and six behind ASU. Tim Robyn's squad made up ground by posting a team score of 286 on Tuesday - three strokes better than any other team on the day.
Individually, sophomore Brandon Knaub led the way for MU, as he finished alone in 7th place with a three-round total of 216, which was even par for the tournament. After tying for 5th in his last outing, Knaub has now recorded consecutive top-10 finishes for the first time in his career.
Freshman Ben Scott shot a two-over 218 total (including a one-under par 71 on Tuesday) to tie for 8th place. That marked the first top-10 finish of his young career. Junior Cory Ewert was just one shot back at 219 after rounds of 72, 73 and 74. Senior Mark McBride recovered from a rough opening round of 78 on Monday to move up to a tie for 16th with a 222 total, while junior Chris Happ finished 60th with a 235 total.
Up next for Missouri is the Big 12 Championships, scheduled for April 29-30 at Prairie Dunes Golf Club in Hutchinson, Kan.
TEAM STANDINGS Pl School 1st 2nd 3rd Tot 1 Arkansas St. 290 290 289 869 2 South Alabama 288 285 297 870 3 MISSOURI 291 295 286 872 4 Ark.-LR 299 297 289 885 5 North Texas 291 297 301 889 6 South Florida 293 288 309 890 7 Illinois St. 294 295 303 892 8 La.-Lafayette 297 297 310 904 9 So. Mississippi 299 298 308 905 10 Oral Roberts 299 305 304 908 11 SW Missouri St. 298 315 299 912 12 Louisiana Tech 311 312 298 921 13 Northern Iowa 306 311 314 931INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS Pl Player (School) 1st 2nd 3rd Tot 1 Gareth Maybin (So.Ala.) 68 70 72 210 2 Jason Jackson (Ark.St.) 70 69 72 211 3 Ryan Gilders (S.Ala.) 72 68 74 214 Hamilton Wheeler (ORU) 68 76 70 214 5 Brian Anderson (Il.St.) 72 72 71 215 Jay Cavanagh (So.Fla.) 75 65 75 215 7 Brandon Knaub (MU) 70 76 70 216 8 Ben Scott (MU) 73 74 71 218 11 Cory Ewert (MU) 73 72 74 219 16 Mark McBride (MU) 78 73 71 222 60 Chris Happ (MU) 75 81 79 235