Round 1 Results
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May 20, 2005
The University of Missouri men's golf squad is making only its second appearance in NCAA Regional play since 1995 and it is off to a great start. It finished the opening round (which was completed this morning due to darkness on Thursday night) in third place with a score of 285. Below is a recap from the opening day as told by Golfweek.com Deputy Editor Jeff Babineau.
Live scoring of the of the second round, which is in progress, is available at www.mutigers.com and a complete recap of all of the day's action will be provided upon conclusion of the second round later this evening. The Tigers are look to be one of the ten teams that advance to the NCAA Championships from the Central Region.
Central: Mizzou is at it again
BY JEFF BABINEAU Deputy Editor Golfweek.com
NOTRE DAME, IND. -- As the morning rains pelted the Warren Golf Course just north of the University of Notre Dame campus early Thursday, Missouri coach Mark Leroux and his young team retreated to the safest place they could find -- the sanctuary of the Tigers' team van.
Once inside, they didn't talk about Hogan's secret in the dirt or the nuances of various short-game philosophies, but instead spent time just being college kids, alternately laughing, joking, napping and teasing one another as the sounds of The Floating Men wafted through the air.
The Floating Men, an acclaimed back-room band out of Nashville, play one tune called "Waiting for a Sign." It's a title somewhat befitting the Tigers' emergence on the golf scene of late. At the NCAA Men's Division I Central Regional, Missouri continued to make believers of college golf's cognoscenti, surviving difficult cold and rainy conditions to shoot 5-over 285, good enough for the clubhouse lead after darkness suspended play and brought an end to a long opening day. Play was suspended for 3 hours in the morning due to rain.
Play will resume Friday at 6:45 a.m. (EST), with a dozen teams in the 27-team field returning to finish Round 1. Tulsa, through 12 holes, is something of a surprise leader, just a stroke over par, with top-ranked Oklahoma State, No. 1 in the country, at +4. Augusta State (through 17 holes) and Texas Tech (through 13) were alongside Missouri at 5 over.
Pablo Martin, the outstanding Oklahoma State freshman by way of Spain, has the individual lead at 4 under par with one hole to play, the 455-yard 18th. The best completed round belongs to Kevin Ward of Kansas, who shot 2-under 68. Martin is bogey-free through 17 holes; his round included an eagle 2 at the 443-yard 12th, where his 9-iron from 159 yards pitched a yard past the flagstick and spun back into the hole.
"Lucky shot," he said, smiling.
The Cowboys come into South Bend knowing exactly what their capabilities are, having won seven times this season, including four titles in their last five starts. As for Missouri, the Tigers are more of a work in progress but definitely a team on the rise, regardless of their low seeding (21st of 27 teams) at the Central Regional.
Two more solid days like Thursday, and the Tigers will continue making believers of people other than themselves.
"They are constantly being told they're not supposed to do that, or that they're playing beyond their ability," said Leroux of his Tigers. "I don't think they like that."
So the Tigers respond the best way they know, by letting their scores do the talking. Lately, the scores and results have spoken volumes. Thursday, sophomore Shawn Jasper led the way with a steady round of 69 that included three birdies against a pair of bogeys.
Ben Scott, a Brit from Lancashire so accustomed to rainy conditions such as those he encountered in Round 1 that he doesn't even bother to pack an umbrella, and Trent Twaddle added 71s. Junior Chris Mabry, who has been red-hot this spring, was even par with four holes to play but made two doubles to shoot 74.
Missouri's season has been woven with a recurring theme: The Tigers have proved themselves continually, have had their accomplishments greeted with skepticism, and then go out and prove themselves again. At last month's Belmont Invitational in Tennessee, for instance, Jasper and Mabry shot 63s and the team rolled to a 35-stroke victory, but the victory was lightly dismissed because it came against a "mid-major" field.
So a week later the Tigers ventured to the Boilermaker Invitational, faced a field that had eight Big 10 schools (including host Purdue), and won by eight. At the Big 12 Conference Championship in Texas, Missouri was seeded ninth but finished third, behind only perennial powers Oklahoma State and Oklahoma. It was the team's best finish in its nine years in the Big 12, and the best overall conference showing since a third at the Big Eight Championships 17 years ago.
"At the Big 12, we proved to people we can hang with the big boys," said Jasper. "We were seeded ninth, just like here (where the Tigers are seeded 21st). People just aren't giving us the credit we deserve. I think we are one of the better teams at this tournament."
Leroux, in his first year at the helm after helping guide Austin Peay out of golf's dark ages, had a recent talk with his squad about expectations and potential. He told the members of his young squad - comprising two juniors and three sophomores - he thought they were "good." Then he issued a challenge:
Do you want to be great? Do you want to chase excellence?
"I told them, 'Here's my definition of excellent: You are repeatedly exceeding expectations,'" said Leroux.
"I think they want to be good," he said. He paused, caught himself, then smiled. "I think they want to be great."
If so, he is seeing some pretty good signs.