Men’s Golf Headed to Porto Cima for Valley Tournament

MVC Release
MVC Championship Central

The Missouri State men’s golf team begins play Sunday (Apr. 21) in the 2024 Missouri Valley Conference Championship at The Club at Porto Cima in Osage Beach, Mo. The tournament continues through Tuesday with the Bears and the league’s nine other teams chasing the automatic bid to NCAA Regionals that comes with a victory. Play begins with tee times off both nines at 9:30 a.m. Sunday, 9 a.m. Monday and 8 a.m. Tuesday. 

Porto Cima, consistently ranked among the top courses in Missouri, has previously hosted the MVC Championship in 2011, 2015 and 2019. The signature Jack Nicklaus design is a par 72 that will play to 7060 yards for the championship.

Illinois State is the defending champion and preseason favorite, while MSU was picked to finish fifth in a poll of the league’s coaches taken back in January. Valparaiso was chosen second and Southern Illinois was third. The rest of the voting had Belmont fourth, followed by the Bears, Drake, Murray State, UNI, Evansville and Bradley. MSU will be chasing its second MVC title in school history with the previous time coming in 1993. The Bears finished ninth a year ago at Oakwood Country Club in Coal Valley, Ill.

Coach Neal Stafford’s team is led by the senior threesome of Hampus Wijkstrom, Max Kreikemeier and Eric Schuessler. Wijkstrom, who transferred from Augusta for his final season, is on pace to break the school single-season scoring record as he carries a 70.15 mark into the tournament. He has a win, a runner-up and three other top-five finishes to go with four MVC Golfer of the Week honors on the season.

Kreikemeier is looking to make history and become the only four-time all-conference performer in school history. He ranks second on the squad with a 72.36 scoring average and a tournament victory to his credit this season. Schuessler has enjoyed a consistent but under-the-radar senior season, sporting a 72.42 scoring mark while finishing in the Bears’ top two at five tournaments. He and Kreikemeier are the only two Bears to also compete at last year’s MVC Tournament.

Stafford’s lineup will be rounded out by junior Ludwig Wijkstrom and sophomore Christian Rischer. Wijkstrom, also a transfer and Hampus’ brother, brings a 73.52 average into the tournament, while Rischer has compiled a 73.93 mark.

Live scoring for the tournament can be found at: https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=28687.