The Valparaiso University men's golf team began the 2026 Missouri Valley Conference Championship on Sunday, playing the first 18 holes of the 54-hole tournament at the par-71, 6860-yard Annbriar Golf Course in Waterloo, Ill. A pair of Beacons finished the opening day of action inside the top 20 on the player leaderboard.
 
How It Happened

• Junior Adam Melliere (Zionsville, Ind. / Zionsville) tied for the team lead with a 2-over 73 in the first round, tied for 17^th in the 45-player field. He had one birdie, which came on the par-4 13^th, and bogeyed three holes.
• Sophomore Rob Politza (Lemont, Ill. / Lemont Township) shared Day 1 team leadership with Melliere, also turning in a 73 (+2). Politza birdied two holes in a three-hole stretch on the par-4 13^th and par-3 15^th, but he had a pair of bogeys and one double.
• Redshirt junior Ryan Somerville (Aurora, Ontario / Aurora) posted a 76 (+5), finishing third on the team, while Valpo also counted a +7 on Sunday.
• The Beacons sit in ninth place in the nine-team field through one round with a 300 (+16), but they are only one stroke behind Belmont and three behind UNI. Southern Illinois leads the way with a 279, while SIU's Anthony De Schutter and Evansville's Omar Khalid are tied for medalist honors after both carded a 65 (-6), one shot away from Anthony Delisanti's MVC Championship record.

Thoughts from Head Coach Dave Gring
"Interestingly enough, the team hit the ball pretty decently today from tee to green, but our shots around the green and our putts were very poor. Our strokes gained putting for all five of our players was one of the worst rounds we have had this year. We missed a lot of putts inside of 10 feet and we even missed numerous putts inside of five feet. Our putting speed still wasn't anywhere close to where it needs to be, so we will need to make some big improvements in these next two rounds on the greens. Eight birdies for the entire team in today's rounds is not going to get it done."
 
"Adam and Rob both had terrific ball-striking days. Adam hit 17/18 greens in regulation and he hit 11/14 fairways. Rob hit 15/18 greens and 11/14 fairways. They weren't able to convert many birdies, with Rob making two birdies and Adam making one. Adam led the field with 14 pars.  Rob was second in the field with 13 pars. We will be prepared for the inclement weather tomorrow and certainly improve upon today's scores."
 
Up Next
The Missouri Valley Conference Championship will continue on Monday at Annbriar Golf Course in Waterloo, Ill. Due to the weather forecast, Round-2 tee times have been moved up one hour and will begin at 8:30 a.m. on Monday. A link to live scoring via Clippd will be available on ValpoAthletics.com.