@MizzouMensGolf Turns the Corner for the Spring Season
2/6/2017 7:37:00 PM | Men's Golf
Seniors Walker and Lilliedahl lead the way for the Tigers heading into 2017
COLUMBIA, Mo. - Mizzou Men's Golf is coming off a very productive fall season that was filled with both individual and team highlights. Head coach Mark Leroux's squad is poised for big things in the spring with senior leadership coming from Euan Walker (Troon Scotland) and Linus Lilliedahl (Sandviken, Sweden).
The Tigers won a fifth-straight Turning Stone Intercollegiate this past fall, placed second at both the Jackrabbit Invitational and the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate, and then placed third at the Warrior Princeville Makai Invitational. The Tigers also placed at least one individual in the top-10 of every tournament they played in during the autumn months. Mizzou finished the fall season ranked 33rd in the nation according to Golfweek.
As the Tigers make the turn toward the spring, the combination of newcomers and veterans that has worked so well for Leroux must continue to click if Mizzou wants to continue reaching new heights.
Leading the Tigers this spring will be the senior duo of Walker and Lilliedahl, who were dynamic to start the season. Both seniors have led by example, placing in the top-10 at events a combined five times. Both Tigers have also shattered their career lows in strokes-per-round average, with Walker's falling to 70.2 and Lilliedahl's coming in at 70.8, which are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 on the team. Walker has shot all five of his 54-hole events under-par, while Lilliedahl has shot over-par at just one event. The seniors have also recorded an impressive 17 rounds under-par this season, which is more than the rest of the roster combined.
If the Tigers have a shot at continuing their hot start to this season, it has to start with Walker and Lilliedahl. Both elder statesmen will look to finish their careers strong and guide Mizzou through a strong second half of the 2016-17 season.
The two seniors have not done it alone, though. The contributions of newcomers Trevor Ullestad (Jewell, Iowa) and Rory Franssen (Inverness, Scotland) along with the support of veterans Matt Echelmeier (Columbia, Mo.), Hayden Buckley (Belden, Miss.) and Preston Fleenor (Kansas City, Mo.) have helped buoy the seniors and the team against some of the best competition in the country.
For Ullestad, a junior college transfer from Indian Hills Community College, the transition to NCAA Division I competition has gone well. He placed in the top-10 in both of his first two events, and finished both the Turning Stone and the Jackrabbit three strokes under-par. Ullestad will be looking to capture his early season form as the spring campaign tees off.
Franssen, a true freshman, performed like he had been there before in all three events that he played in. Both of his competitive rounds were solid, as he shot a 3-over-par in his debut at the Turning Stone and a one-over-par in the final event of fall play at the Warrior. However, his finest outing came when he was playing as an unattached individual at the Jackrabbit. Franssen shot a 3-under-par en route to an eighth place finish, his best of the season.
Sophomores Echelmeier and Fleenor may only be in their second years at Mizzou, but on a team that normally travels two players that are new to the program, both fill the role of veteran for Leroux and assistant coach Grant Milner. After learning on the job a season ago as true freshmen, the younger Echelmeier and Fleenor were both solid for the Tigers during the fall campaign. Echelmeier has yet to shoot an event over par, shooting even at the Turning Stone and a 3-under-par, which was a career best, at the Bank of Tennessee Intercollegiate. Fleenor, meanwhile, had two top-20 finishes this fall, shooting a 5-over-par at the Turning Stone to finish 16th,, while shooting even par at the Jackrabbit Invitational to finish tied for 14th.
After struggling with injury at the beginning of the fall season, Buckley has knocked off the rust, playing a very strong tournament at the Warrior Invitational to close out fall play. In only his second event back from injury, Buckley led the Tigers at the event, shooting a 209 (-7), which was the second lowest 54-hole score by a Mizzou golfer so far this season. If he is able to maintain that level of play going forward, the Tigers will have a weapon in their arsenal that they did not have for most of the fall season.
To start the spring, the Tigers head to Gainesville, Fla., where they will compete in the SunTrust Gator Invitational from Feb. 18-Feb. 19.
