May 21, 2005
South Bend, IN - After being slated as the No. 21 seed in the 27-team NCAA Central Regional heading into the tournament, the University of Missouri Men's Golf squad defied that ranking and expectations as they have all season and qualified the NCAA National Championships. Mizzou finished in a tie for sixth at the Regional with a score of 870 for tournament which was played at the par-70, 7,011-yard Warren Golf Course. Augusta State (849), Oklahoma State (858) and Texas A&M (863) finished first, second and third respectively with Augusta State's Kalle Edberg taking the individual title (205, -5). The Tigers are one of the 10 squads to qualify for the Championships from the Central Regional, which will be played June 1-4 in Baltimore, MD.
"This is a tremendous accomplishment for our players and our program," first-year head coach Mark Leroux said. "I couldn't be prouder of the way we focused and fought for every stroke this week and worked our way into a position that would allow us to be successful."
Junior Ben Scott was outstanding throughout the tournament for the Tigers as he fired a 69 on the day and a season-best total of 207 to finish at three-under par and in third place. Scott had four birdies on the day and eight birdies for the tournament. His third place finish was the best individual finish by a Tiger in Regional play in school history. This was also Scott's seventh top-10 of the season and his fifth straight top-10 performance overall.
Sophomore Shawn Jasper was also outstanding in the final round as he shot a two-over par 72 to finish in a tie for 20th with a total of 215, his third best 54 hole total of the season. This was also Jasper's sixth top-20 individual finish on the season and his 69 in the opening round was his fifth sub-70 round of the year. After shooting a 77 on Friday, junior Chris Mabry fought back with a 73 on Saturday and finished in a tie for 77th with teammate and sophomore Trent Twaddle with totals of 224. Sophomore Tyler Dunn wrapped up the Tigers scoring with a total of 237 for the Regional.
The Tigers benefited from having played the Warren Course last fall, but the results then were drastically different. Mizzou finished 13th out of 15 at the Central Region Preview shooting a 918 for the tournament while shooting above 300 in all three rounds. In contrast, every round this weekend for Mizzou was below 300 (285, 293 and 292) and it total is 48 strokes better than the last time out in South Bend.
Live scoring will be provided for the event at www.mutigers.com via www.golfstat.com along with nightly recaps of the action from the 30-team championship. For more information on Missouri Men's Golf, log on to www.mutigers.com.