Virgilio Paz Finishes Top 10 at Colleton River
3/3/2025 3:58:00 PM | Men's Golf
Junior Virgilio Paz recorded his third collegiate top-10 finish to lead University of Missouri men's golf at the Colleton River Challenge on Monday.
In tough conditions where all 16 schools finished over par on the day, Paz carded a solid round of 76 to maintain his top-10 placement and finish eighth overall at +2 (70-72-76). The junior carded nine birdies over the 54 holes to lead Mizzou in scoring for the fifth time in seven events he played during the 2024-25 campaign.
"I played really solid this week, especially on such a challenging course," Paz said. "I struck the ball well and did a great job staying patient, even though my final round wasn't my best. I'm happy with the top-10 finish and this motivates me to keep working hard and improving for what's ahead."
It marks Paz's third collegiate top-10, also accomplishing the feat at the Golfweek "Put Me In Coach" Invitational to start this season and the Chicago Highlands Invitational in 2023.
"It was great playing by Virgilio," said Missouri head coach Glen Millican. "We had some good golf by a couple of other guys at times on a really good test of a course but a tied for eighth-place by Virgilio is a great finish and one that he can build on."
Freshman Trent Mierl carded the team's lowest score of the day with a 74 thanks to back-to-back birdies on 14 and 15. Overall, Mierl moved up six spots on the final day to place 49th at +12 (76-78-74).
Mattias Varjun placed second overall on the team by finishing 35th at +9 (73-72-80) with Veikka Viskari (78-76-76) and Brock Snyder (76-80-77) rounding out the team's performances.
As a team, the Tigers placed 11th of 16 schools during the three-round tournament with a team score of +32. Hosts Michigan State finished first, followed by Kansas State and Chattanooga.
The Tigers are back in action in two weeks when they return to South Carolina for The General Hacker Invitational, which starts on Sunday, March 16 in Myrtle Beach.
Players Mentioned
