June 1, 2005
Results
OWINGS MILLS, Md. - The Missouri men's golf team, making its first nationals appearance in 19 years, is in 30th place following the opening round of competition at the 108th NCAA Division I Men's Golf Championships at Caves Valley Golf Club.
The Tigers were paced on the first day by sophomore Shawn Jasper (Marthasville, Mo. / Francis Howell HS / Newman Univ.), who balanced two birdies against four bogeys en route to a 2-over-par 72. He stands in a tie for 49th place. Jasper opened with a birdie on the 11th hole - Mizzou's second of the day Wednesday morning - and following bogeys and 13, 15, 16 and 8, closed his round with a birdie 3 at the 435-yard ninth.
Sophomore John Kelly (St. Louis, Mo. / Christian Brothers College HS) was next up for the Tigers, shooting a 4-over 74. Kelly birdied his opening hole, and following a bogey at No. 12 birdied the 14th to go 1-under again. Another bogey at 16 brought Kelly back to even through his opening nine before bogeys at 3, 5, 6 and 9 closed Kelly's round to put him in a tie for 87th place.
Junior Chris Mabry (Leawood, Kan. / Bishop Miege HS) had an up-and-down day on the way to a 5-over 75 and a tie for 107th place. His front- and back-nine scores were relatively consistent - he was 2-over on his first nine and 3-over on the final half - yet he got there with three birdies, four bogeys and a pair of double-bogeys.
Sophomore Trent Twaddle (Maryville, Mo. / Maryville HS) is in a tie for 143rd place following a 9-over 79, while junior Ben Scott (Lancashire, United Kingdom / St. Theodore's HS) struggled to an 81 - his worst round in nearly three months, and just a stroke off his worst round all season - to sit in a tie for 150th out of the field's 156 competitors.
"Today was no different than any other tournament we've been in this year - we just played poorly," said first-year Head Coach Mark Leroux, who has the Tigers at the national finals for the first time since 1986 and for the first time in his eight-year collegiate coaching career. "The guys just let the course take advantage of them, instead of the other way around. The course is certainly difficult, but it's nothing these guys haven't played.
"I think that's about as bad as we can play, and being where we're at, we can't do any worse, so now we really have nothing to lose. We'll go home and look at the scores and see that it's not out of reach to still make Friday's cut. As far as what we do for the next 20 hours, we'll sit here and feel bad for 20 hours until we get a chance to erase it and feel good again," Leroux added.
Commenting on the rough round that Ben Scott had, Leroux said, "One of our best players had a tough first couple holes, and it kind of snowballed for him from there. Ben's room here is on an eighth-floor balcony, so we might have to keep an eye on him," he joked.
Georgia owns a five-stroke lead over Tennessee following a four-man aggregate team score of 6-under 274. The Tigers are 26 strokes behind the Bulldogs, who along with Tennessee are the only school at or below par after the opening round. MU is also 12 strokes out of a three-way tie for 12th; the top 15 teams after Friday's third round will advance to Saturday's final round.
Two Peach-State golfers - Kevin Kisner of Georgia and Major Manning of Augusta State - share the individual lead through the first round after firing rounds of 5-under 67.
Mizzou will again be paired with Georgia Tech and San Diego State - who tied for 12th and 18th, respectively, 12 and 10 strokes ahead of the Tigers - for the second round, which begins for those three teams at 12:18 p.m. EDT on the first tee.