96.9 The Jock ESPN Radio Springfield Missouri
The Missouri men’s golf begins its quest for a national championship on Monday, opening the regional round of the NCAA Tournament this week in California.
TOURNAMENT INFO
The Tigers earned a bid to the NCAA Tournament in the Morgan Hill Regional as the No. 7 seed. Joining the Tigers, who are No. 42 nationally, in the field are No. 6 Pepperdine, No. 7 Florida State, No. 18 Mississippi State, No. 19 Arizona, No. 30 Louisville, No. 31 Baylor, No. 43 BYU, NC State, California, Charlotte, Grand Canyon and Northern Colorado. Mizzou is set for a 10:25 a.m. CT tee time on the opening day of action.
The top five teams in the 13-team field qualify for the final round of the NCAA Championship, which is set for May 26-31 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
The California regional is hosted by The Institute Golf Club in Morgan Hill. The Institute LLC Golf Club is an ultra-private club that was created by Frys.com owner John Fry. The golf course opened in 2002 and is the longest course from the championship tees in California at just under 8,000 yards, designed by Damian V. Pascuzz, a member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects.
Overall, the par 72 course measures 7,561 yards long at this week’s championship.
TIGERS AT THE NCAA REGIONAL
Missouri is making its 16th appearance in the regional round of the NCAA Championship since the format was adopted in 1989. The Tigers have twice advance to the championship rounds in 2005 and 2014 with eight additional appearances in the final round prior to 1989.
Last season, Mizzou placed 10th in the regional rounds in its first trip to the championship in four seasons. Two Mizzou student-athletes earned NCAA Tournament experiences in 2022 as Charlie Crockett and Jack Lundin both placed 56th overall in their first championship with a 226.
WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Alfons Bondesson on top-10 finish at SEC Championship as a freshman
“I had some personal goals at SEC and I completed those. A top 10 was kind of just a bonus. It was really fun to just play good in a good tournament.”
Charlie Crocket on the growth in his game
“It’s what we’ve been working on over the last couple of years moving forward. It’s starting show through a lot more. I’m hoping it keeps growing. I’m going to keep working to keep it growing. I think that’s always your goal is get better each day and get better each year.”
Jack Lundin on key to success this week
“We need to practice our putting. All the work is done on the greens. Half of the game is done on the greens. Going out there and focusing in and around the greens is key.”
Antonio Safa on making NCAA Championship debut
“I’m just really excited to go out and compete in my first regionals, especially as a freshman. I think the team knows we can play really well and go through. That’s our expectations for all of us. We all want to go in and we know we can compete with all of the teams, so we know we can make it through.”
Dagbjartur Sigurbrandsson on depth of the team
“We have a good team and the competition getting on the team is tough. It shows that when we play great, we can win out there.”
DJ Springer on SEC Championship compared to NCAA Championship
“The SEC is a great conference for golf and I would argue the best in college golf. The teams that we play are all really good and we know that we can stack up well against them. We know we’re good and the teams that are going to be there are good as well. It sets up well for another strong field coming up.”
Coach Hankins on the key to The Institute Golf Club in Morgan Hill
“It’s a very exclusive golf course. It’s a unique situation because we’re getting sent a place where no one has any real knowledge of the golf course. It’s going to be show up and figure everything out in one day. Then go out and play the first round, try to learn more and get better throughout the week. It’s something we just did at SECs so it won’t be foreign to us at all. I think as far as the field goes, there are teams behind us that could go and this is a deep regional. The top 60 teams in college golf are very good. So anybody could beat anybody on any given day on any given golf couse.
