Mizzou women’s golf set for first appearance at regionals in nearly a decade
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Tiger women qualified as a team for their first regional championships since 2017-18. Veikka Viskari also was selected to compete as an individual on the men's side.
Mizzou women's golf was placed in the Stanford regional and earned a fifth seed in their first trip back in nearly 10 years. In the past four seasons under head coach Caroline Westrup Gaeta, the Tigers have risen from 120th in the national rankings to 31st, and earned their highest finish at the SEC meet since 2019.
"Just telling them to believe in themselves I think has been very important," said coach Westrup Gaeta. "We've gotten closer and closer, and then this year we just had that breakout season."
You can watch the full press conference with coach Westrup Gaeta, Senior Addie Dobson, and junior Veikka Viskari in the video player above.
Since taking over in 2022, Westrup Gaeta has built a team that continues to rise in the rankings and credits a large amount of the success to her senior class.
"Having three seniors in the lineup, it's very special. They've been here since day one when I took the job, and it's not been easy on them. There's been times where they probably question me as a coach, but they stuck with me and they believed in the vision and they believed in what we're trying to do here."
One of those seniors, Addie Dobson, is having a career year, currently on pace to shoot the second best season average in school history, and has already qualified for the U.S. Open in June.
"Coming in as a senior, I was nervous about getting playing time," said Dobson. "It's been weird to see how much my scoring average has dropped for sure. I'd never would have expected that. A lot of times I feel like I haven't been in the present and appreciating how far I've come, but I've realized how much us seniors have put in and how much that's contributed to the success of the program."
On the men's side, Junior Veikka Viskari qualified for regionals as an individual despite the team not earning a bid. He became the first individual to qualify since Ross Steelman back in 2021.
"Got some good news yesterday, got to know that I'm, I'm playing at least one more tournament. So, I'm really excited and looking forward to getting to Arizona," said Viskari. "Obviously a little disappointed to to not have my guys with me there, but still going there with the same goal of just doing my best and trying to advance from there."
Both will look to qualify through the regional round to the NCAA championships. The top five team finishes as well as the highest placed individual not on a national qualifying team will earn a bid.
Up Next - Mizzou women's gold will compete at the regional championships at Stanford, which is set to begin on May 11. Viskari is scheduled to begin his campaign for a national appearance the following week, starting on May 18.
