2025 Metropolitan Year In Review
St. Louis, MO - Another year is coming to a close and we are reflecting on the 2025 season. The memorable moments this year provided will be carried with us and their place will be carved into the Metropolitan history books. In proving this is a golf region, the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association saw another year of growth.
The Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association saw a rise in its membership in 2025 with over 30,200 golfers utilizing the handicap system. There was no shortage of interest in playing the game with over 540,000 rounds of golf being recorded in GHIN (not to mention the countless rounds not recorded). Junior golfers are rising and more than 3,000 are tracking their game with a GHIN handicap.Youth on Course has played a role in this through its promotion with Bank of America to get kids signed up for a golf membership and access to rounds of golf for $5 or less. Over 2,000 of the area’s accounted junior golfers are members of Youth on Course.
Have no fear if you are not a scratch golfer, you are not alone! In fact, the rough average Handicap Index for the Metropolitan is a 15.4. Our members must be practicing because that is 0.2 lower than last year’s average! The lowest Handicap Index in our area is +7.6 and belongs to a professional golfer. The lowest amateur Handicap Index is a +6.8, while numerous members sit with a Handicap Index at the highest point of 54.0. Over half of the membership have handicaps between 10.0 and 29.0. So whether you shoot par or 120, post those scores and shoot what you shoot. There’s no judgement here!
Every year it is a battle to see which club’s members will post the most rounds. Whitmoor Country Club came out on top again this year with 22,492 rounds. The Country Club of St. Albans came in with the second most rounds at 20,354 . The top five posting clubs are rounded out by The Legends Country Club, Forest Hills Country Club, and Bellerive Country Club.
This was another memorable year for championships in the Metropolitan. The season started off with a dominant performance by team Metropolitan in the Shogren Cup. It was followed by a cold and rainy Old Warson Cup that resulted in the first time that both divisions' champions held their respective Amateur (Metropolitan and Senior) Championship and Old Warson Cup titles within the span of a year. It felt like we were fighting the weather for half of the season, but we got every round in and every champion crowned. From the local to the national stage, our members put on a showcase of talent. Member Brooke Biermann highlighted this when she finished as runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. Overall, it was another fantastic championship year, and we are proud to etch new names onto the Metropolitan trophies. Congratulations to all of the Champions from this year and those that qualified for national championships.
2025 Champions
| Old Warson Cup - Justin Bryant | Metropolitan Amateur - Corey Choate | Metropolitan Open - Conner Godsey |
| Metropolitan Junior Amateur - Cole Hendrix | Metropolitan Girls’ Junior Amateur - Eva Brown | Metropolitan Open Low Amateurs - Ryan Sullivan |
| Metropolitan Women’s Amateur - Ellen Port | Senior Old Warson Cup - Skip Berkmeyer | Metropolitan Senior Amateur - Scott McClellan |
| Metropolitan Four-Ball - Ryan Eckelkamp & Ryan Sullivan | Metropolitan Senior Four-Ball - David Pfeil & John Moore | Metropolitan Net Four-Ball - John Rosenbaum & Ryan Helfrich |
| Metropolitan Senior Net Four-Ball - David Ott & Michael Derbak | Robert A. Shogren Cup - Team Metropolitan | Thomas O. Sobbe Cup - Quincy Country Club |
| East Side Amateur - Ryan Sullivan | Senior East Side Amateur - Buddy Allen | Southern Illinois Amateur - Ryan Eckelkamp |
| Senior Southern Illinois Amateur - John Moore | 101st SIGA Championship - River Stilley | 101st SIGA Championship Women - Isa Flores |
| 101st SIGA Championship Junior - Zayn Knight | 101st SIGA Championship Senior - Buddy Allen | 9-Hole Championship Gross - Matthew Stiles |
| 9-Hole Championship Net - Matt Brugner | 9-Hole Championship Senior Gross - Curtis Miller | 9-Hole Championship Senior Net - Chris Scaglione |
| 9-Hole Championship Super Senior Gross - Steve Klopfer | 9-Hole Championship Super Senior Net - Michael Derbak | 9-Hole Championship Junior - Luke Bucherich |
| Women’s Amateur Flight A - Ginny Orthwein | Women’s Amateur Flight B - Erica Ely | Junior Amateur 15U - John DeLuca |
| Junior Amateur 13U - Anthony Moore | Senior Amateur 50-59 Gross - Scott Dreher | Senior Amateur 50-59 Net - Amrit Gill |
| Senior Amateur 60-64 Gross - Gary Boots | Senior Amateur 60-64 Net - Michael Derbak | Senior Amateur 65-69 Gross - Brian McGinley |
| Senior Amateur 65-69 Net - Vincent Featherson | Senior Amateur 70-74 Gross - Bill Anderson | Senior Amateur 70-74 Net - Kevin Ortyl |
| Senior Amateur 75+ Gross - William Wunderlich | Senior Amateur 75+ Net - Tom Leahy | Amateur Series Championship - Ryan Keller |
| Amateur Series Championship Net - Clayton Dierkes | Amateur Series Championship Senior - Dan Mallon | Amateur Series Championship Senior Net - Kevin Kissling |
| Amateur Series Championship Super Senior - Bill Schmidt | Amateur Series Championship Super Senior Net - Terry Souchek | Tony Stevens Cup - Red Hawk Golf Club |
2025 USGA Qualifiers/Participants
| 2025 U.S. Women's Amateur Four-Ball - Eva Brown & Sarah Hyten | 2025 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball - Joe Migdal & Sam Migdal |
| 2024 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball - Skip Berkmeyer & Brad Nurski | U.S. Women’s Open - Brooke Biermann |
| U.S. Open (through to Final Q) - Harper Ackermann | U.S. Girls' Junior Amateur - Eva Brown |
| U.S. Junior Amateur - Harper Ackermann | U.S. Junior Amateur - Sam Ottwell |
| U.S. Junior Amateur - Cole Packingham | U.S. Junior Amateur - Harrison Zipfel |
| U.S. Women’s Amateur (Runner-Up) - Brooke Biermann | U.S. Women’s Amateur - Mia Rallo |
| U.S. Amateur - Chad Niezing | U.S. Senior Women’s Open - Ellen Port |
| U.S. Senior Amateur - Paul Neeman | U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur - Ellen Port |
| U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur - Tina Jones | U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur - Kathy Glennon |
| U.S. Mid-Amateur - Sam Migdal | U.S. Mid-Amateur - Justin Bryant |
| U.S. Mid-Amateur - Brad Carpenter | 2026 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball - Keenan Flemming & Joseph Williams |
Other National Championship Qualifiers
| 2025 Drive, Chip, & Putt Final CHAMPION - Joshua Hooper | International Junior Masters - Cole Packingham (stroke play medalist) | North & South Junior Amateur - Sarah Hyten |
| Notah Begay III Junior Golf National Championship - Hayley Castello | Girls' Junior PGA Championship - Eva Brown | Girls' Junior PGA Championship - Ally Suhre |
| Junior PGA Championship - Beau Eftink | Junior PGA Championship - Isaah Kandula | IMG Academy Junior World Championship - Beau Eftink |
| IMG Academy Junior World Championship - Sam Ottwell | IMG Academy Junior World Championship - Isa Flores | IMG Academy Junior World Championship - Blair Powers |
| IMG Academy Junior World Championship - Skylar Mann | IMG Academy Junior World Championship - Hayley Castello | IMG Academy Junior World Championship - Leo Miller |
| IMG Academy Junior World Championship - Henry Glarner | Future Masters - Liam Martin & Anthony Moore | 202 Drive, Chip, & Putt Final - Andrew Brown |
Awards Presented
| Player of the Year - Ryan Sullivan | Women’s Player of the Year - Brooke Biermann |
| Senior Player of the Year - David Strickland | SIGA Player of the Year - River Stilley |
| SIGA Senior Player of the Year - Tom Portner | Host Private Facility of the Year - Westwood Country Club |
| Host Public Facility of the Year - Gateway National Golf Links | Host Golf Professional/Staff of the Year - Jay Roux (WingHaven CC) |
| Host Superintendent/Staff of the Year - Corey Witzman (Westwood CC) | Southern Illinois POY Trophy Named - Tom Portner Trophy |
The future continues to look bright for area junior golfers. We are proud of the junior members who have committed and signed to play at a collegiate level after graduation in 2026:
| Eva Brown - Wichita State University | Ava Brumagin - Indiana State University |
| Sarah Hyten - Florida Gulf Coast University | Rachel Johnson - Butler University |
| Miley Kennard - Marian University | Zeme Moore - Southern Illinois University |
| Beau Eftink - Illinois State University | Aleks Harman - Missouri Valley College |
| Cole Hendrix - University of Missouri St. Louis | Isaac Kelley - Lindenwood University |
| Blake Laramie - Drury University | Cole Packingham - University of North Georgia |
| Austin Rinkenberger - University of Missouri St. Louis | Sam Shaw - Lewis & Clark Community College |
| Nick Vilela - University of Cincinnati | Harrison Zipfel - University of Illinois |
We are proud to serve this ever growing golf community and look forward to the years to come. Congratulations again to the Champions of the season and we hope to see you again in 2026. Thank you to each and every one of our members for another great year! You are the reason we do this and we could not be more grateful for you!