May 9, 2005
COLUMBIA, Mo. - The Missouri men's golf team has been selected as one of 27 teams to advance to the NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships Central Regional, it was announced today.
The Tigers are the No. 22 seed in the Central Regional, which will be hosted at Warren Golf Course in South Bend, Ind., next Thursday-Saturday, May 19-21. Mizzou has previous experience on that course this year, finishing 13th at the Central Regional Preview in September. The top 10 teams, as well as the top two individuals not on advancing teams, will move on from each regional to the championship finals. Those will be conducted June 1-4 at Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.
A small crowd of supporters joined the men's team and first-year Head Coach Mark Leroux in the Clinton Club at Mizzou Arena to listen to the teleconference.
This will be the first regional appearance for any current member of the team, which last went to regionals in 2003. It is Missouri's sixth regionals appearance under the current format - which began in the late 1980's - yet just the second since 1995.
"It didn't matter if we were 22nd, 23rd, or last, as long as we were in," said Leroux, who skippered three consecutive regional appearances from his men's team at Austin Peay before taking the Missouri job last summer. "They've far exceeded my expectations going into this year. They've been motivated this year, and with the records they've broken and the performance they had at the Big 12 Championships, they've shown that. What these guys have accomplished is a season in itself."
Every 18- and 54-hole individual and team record was broken in record fashion this season, highlighted by a pair of 8-under-par 63's by sophomore Shawn Jasper and junior Chris Mabry at the Belmont Invitational, one of two tournaments the Tigers won this spring. It's the first time since 1995 that the squad has won twice in the same season.
Leroux spoke of the goals he set for his team upon his arrival. "Goal-setting is one of my fortés," he said. "You have to make them challenging, yet realistic. We started out wanting to do better than 11th at the Big 12 Championships (where last week they finished third), we wanted to improve on a No. 101 national ranking (they entered the week ranked No. 59 in the Golfstat national rankings), and we wanted to make it to postseason play. We amended those goals along the way ... until it was to win the Big 12 Championship."
Junior Ben Scott learned of his team's regional bid upon returning from a final exam. When asked about the team's seed, he said, "It's a little surprising, but it's just a number on a piece of paper. The last couple of years have been disappointing, but this year we've kind of turned it around."
The Tigers will leave for Notre Dame a week from Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday's practice round, and the three rounds of competition.