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COLUMBIA, Mo. – University of Missouri’s men’s golfer Jack Parker has been named the 2021 Missouri Golf Association – Male Player of the Year as announced earlier this week by the MGA executive board. The award honors an outstanding male golfer in Missouri that has excelled on the course over the entire season. As a Columbia native, Parker grew up competing in MGA events and now has capped his amateur career by winning this award in his final year at Mizzou.
“I feel like this summer and past fall, I’ve just been really consistent. I haven’t had a lot to think about on the golf course other than just scoring. In years past, I’ve either been tinkering with something in my swing or a whole number of things, but [this year] I’ve been confident in my swing, very comfortable in my game and I think that’s been the difference maker,” said Parker.
Parker’s standout surge this year started in the summer when he clinched the 24th Missouri Stroke Play Championship at Twin Oaks Country Club in Springfield. He fired a 12-under par 272 (68, 65, 72, 67) over the four-round tournament to stand at the top of the 150-competitor slate. In addition to tallying his first MGA career win, Parker was a quarterfinalist in the Missouri Amateur Championship, and this fall qualified for the US Amateur Championship and made it into the round of 64 in match play.
A graduate student at Mizzou, Parker continued his strong performance into his final collegiate season, pocketing his first individual title – the first of his Mizzou career – in the season-opening, Turning Stone Intercollegiate. His performance also led the Tigers to a team title in the 15-team event. He posted a 9-under par 207 (70-67-70) marking not only his career-best 54-hole tournament score, but also a career-low round score of 5-under 67. Parker later went on to break that 18-hole personal best in the Steelwood Collegiate Invitational with his second-round score of 6-under par, 66. He further added to his fall campaign resume at the Rich Harvest Farms Intercollegiate where he recorded his first career hole-in-one to go along with 16 birdies and 2 eagles. Parker went on to finish in fourth place with a 7-under par 209 (71-67-71). The senior Tiger has shot eight of 13 rounds and two tournaments under-par this collegiate season to boast a current season scoring average of 71.1.
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