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Quincy, IL - The Final Round of the 34th Metropolitan Senior Amateur Championship was postponed due to weather and course conditions. After giving the course time to drain and dry up a little, play began on Friday at 12:00 a.m. at Quincy Country Club. Following the postponement, some players had to withdraw from the competition due to time constraints and prior commitments, but those that were able, made their way back to Quincy for one more day. Skip Berkmeyer, Marty Schmelzle, and Ken Caldwell all led their respective divisions after Round 1. 
 

The net age divisions went off first. In the 55-64 division, Marty Schmelzle of the USGA/MetAmateur GC produced a second good round for the week. Coming into the day, Schmelzle was net even par. Today, he added six strokes to his total to finish the week at net six-over (+6) par and take home the hardware. In the 65 and over division, Ken Caldwell of the Metropolitan eClub improved upon his Round 1 score. Starting the day at net ten-over, Caldwell produced a second round of net eight-over. Caldwell takes the title in his division at net eighteen-over (+18) par.

Then it was time for the championship players, competing for the George F. Meyer trophy. Coming into the Final Round, Skip Berkmeyer led at four-under par with Matt Lewis at two-under par and four players at two-over par. Berkmeyer of The Legends Country Club started out strong in the second round, extending his lead to five-under after the fourth hole. On the eighth hole, he hit some trouble and wound up falling back to one-under through thirteen. Determined not to lose any more strokes to the field and finish strong, Berkmeyer found one last birdie on Hole 17 and coupled it with four pars on those last five holes to end the round two-over for the day. Together with his Round 1 score, this had Berkmeyer finish the championship with a total of two-under (-2) par. 

Unfortunately, Lewis was one of the competitors that had to withdraw from the competition, which gave Berkmeyer a bigger buffer heading into the final round. John Moore of Spring Lake Country Club got off to a hot start, carding birdie on the first two holes. This allowed Moore to start cutting into the lead Berkmeyer had. He made the turn at one-under for the day after a bogey on Hole 5. David Strickland of Tapawingo National Golf Club made three consecutive birdies on holes 4 through 6 and then carded another on the 10th to also start cutting into the lead.  

The back nine started to slow players’ scoring down. Strickland would make four bogeys on the back, but ended the day on high note with a birdie on 18. Strickland finished tied for third at three-over (+3) par. He was tied with David Johnson who had four birdies today to better his first round score by one and finish three-over (+3) par. Moore continued to keep a close proximity to Berkmeyer, adding a birdie on the 12th, but a bogey on Hole 14 started to close the door of a great comeback as the number of holes left to play lessened. After reaching the final hole and despite knowing the time was up, Moore ended the day with one more birdie for a second round score of two-under and a total of even (E) par.  

At the conclusion of the championship, Skip Berkmeyer successfully closed out the competition to take home the title of 34th Metropolitan Senior Amateur Champion. This is Berkmeyer’s second Metropolitan Senior Amateur title - having won the first in 2024. It also marks his 12th Metropolitan Championship title. John Moore is the runner-up in what feels like deja vu for the golfer. Moore was also the runner-up to Berkmeyer in 2024. He may have had to wait an extra day and fight for it, but it was a sweet ending for Berkmeyer as he adds to his collection of titles.