Mavericks take on the Mules of Missouri

The Minnesota State Men’s Golf team looks to head back to Missouri, once again, for the Central Missouri Mule Invite. The tournament hosts two rounds of golf Monday and Tuesday. The Mules National Club plays to 6,362 yards on a par 70. This features four par-5s and six par-3s. 

The main attraction and challenge of this course are hole 8’s 650-yard par-5 and hole 18’s island green. According to head coach Alex Schmitz, the Mavs’ main strength this year is hitting the ball hard allowing them to eliminate the short game. This could come in favor on the long 650-yard par-5 and when they narrow in on the island green to finish off the match. 

This tournament will be a hard battle for the Mavericks to overcome as seven of the top 11 schools in the NCAA II Central Division rankings will be playing. The Mules will be hosting 16 other teams; five of which are from the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. 

On top of this, the Mavs recently saw the Mules in the NSIC Preview at Adams Pointe Golf Club where the Mules finished first while the Mavs came in at 10th place. Central Missouri took a dominating win through outstanding efficiency with an overall team score of 580 while MSU shot 615 finishing 39 shots above par. 

Last year, MSU finished 44 shots over par finishing 14th out of 21 teams. One highlight coming out of the mediocre finish was Ben Laffen tying for 16 place shooting +3. In one of his rounds, he finished under par with 69 strokes, something he’s only done five times throughout his career. Laffen will be returning this year with more knowledge of the course along with Kaleb Johnson, Joe Bigger and Jack Klimek who all played at The Mules National last year.

For information during the tournament, you can follow the Mavericks around the course at golfstat.com. Following the tournament, the Mavs will once again travel back to Missouri to return to Adams Pointe Golf Club for their final tournament the NSIC Championship April 21.

Write to Luke Jackson at Luke.Jackson2@mnsu.edu

Header Photo: The MSU Men’s Golf team is competing in Warrensburg, Missouri today for the second half of the Central Missouri Mule Invite event. (Courtesy MNSU Athletics)