The response to Maryville's first American Junior Golf Association event throughout the week has been the same no matter who you ask.
"It's been incredible," Kyle Easter, Mozingo's head golf professional said. "It has been overwhelmingly positive."
Seventy-eight of the finest junior golfers in the United States, with some international players sprinkled in as well, brought a competitive energy to Mozingo Lake Golf Course.
In addition to the high-level golf, the tournament brought a significant number of new visitors to Maryville with 20 states and four countries represented, and quite a few were caught off guard by the pristine course tucked away in northwest Missouri.
"I think there was a lot of surprise from a lot of people," Easter said. "It's very unusual to have something of this quality be a municipal course. And we are obviously kind of off the beaten path in the Midwest, so I don't think they expected anything like this."
Not only is it a nod to Maryville, it's a signal to the AJGA that Mozingo can be a destination for future tournaments and other major events.
"They're blown away with the golf course," James O'Brien, the AJGA's South Central Region Director, said. "There was a gentleman from San Diego, he's played in five AJGA events and been across the country, he said this is his favorite course he's been to all year."
Having a resource like Mozingo Lake Golf Course in their own backyard isn't lost on Alayna Pargas and Colin Hoffmann, a pair of Maryville golfers that represented their community in the tournament.
"It was pretty cool to be the hometown girl, the person that kind of knows where everything is," Pargas said of playing on her home course throughout the week. "That was super cool just because Mozingo has a special place in my heart. I'm always out here. So to get to share it with so many people from around the world is so amazing."
"It's definitely big representing Maryville," Hoffmann added. "Everybody's been waiting for this tournament to happen. I wanted to show my best game, and I want to do my best in front of them."
While the athletes put together solid performances, the community stepped up, too. More than 60 volunteers from around Nodaway County staffed the event daily, a number that eclipses most other AJGA tournaments.
"What's really made the event special," O'Brien said, "is that the community has really rallied around this event and have wrapped their arms around it."
