Team Metro Concludes 28th Mid-America Junior Cup
St. Louis, MO - In the 28th Mid-America Junior Cup, the two sides of the state met once again to compete. Eight junior golfers from the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association and eight from Central Links Golf were selected to compete. The Mid-America Junior Cup is a Ryder Cup style, match play invitational event with foursome, four-ball, and singles rounds. There are a total of 16 points available in the matches with teams needing 8.5 points to win the Cup. Team Central Links needs just 8 points to retain the cup as the defending champion. This year’s competition was hosted by the Metropolitan at Bogey Hills Country Club.
Each team consists of four boys and four girls. Two boys and two girls must be aged 15 and under, while the remaining four players will compete as the 18 and under. All players play in all format sessions.
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Team Metropolitan:
Haley Castello |
Team Central Links:
Josh Fratzel |
The weather for the weekend could not have been better for the competitors and spectators alike, with sunny skies and warm temperatures for late October. Both teams were feeling confident, stacked with talent on both sides of the ball.
The competition kicked off with foursomes on Saturday morning. In this format, the teams pair one boy and one girl to play together for their side in this alternate shot. The first match paired Madison Pyatt and Anthony Moore for Team Metropolitan versus Alexi Omillian and Colin Hoffmann for Team Central Links. The first four holes went back and forth between the two sides. Omillian and Hoffmann picked up steam in the middle, but Pyatt and Moore forced the match to the 17th. They would fall 2 & 1 with the point going to Team Central Links. The second match of the morning saw Haley Castello and Henry Glarner for Team Metropolitan take on Kennedy Kaus and Patrick Mayor for Team Central Links. This was a dominating performance for Castello and Glarner. The pair did not give up a single hole to their opponents and were 4 Up through four holes. Gaining on hole 8, 12, and 13, Castello and Glarner put the match to bed 7 & 5 to give Team Metropolitan its first point.
In the third match, Team Metropolitan paired Ally Suhre and Hudson Shy to face Gabby Vineyard and Connor MacGee of Team Central Links. Suhre and Shy got off to a slow start and quickly realised they were going to be fighting an uphill battle. Vineyard and MacGee didn’t allow one hole to go to The Metropolitan on the front nine and were 5 Up through 9. Suhre and Shy turned things around and won Hole 10, then Hole 13 and 15. Despite their efforts, Team Metropolitan would fall 3 & 2 to see Team Central Links take a second point. The final match of the morning was Team Metropolitan’s Annie Rothery and John DeLuca against Team Central Links’ Lynn Powell and Josh Fratzel. There was a little give and take in this match. Each side won on the first two holes before Rothery and DeLuca took the lead on Hole 4 thanks to DeLuca’s tee shot landing about two feet from the hole. Powell and Fratzel rallied back to make the turn 1 Up and go 2 Up by Hole 12. Rothery and DeLuca won Hole 14, but were unable to get another. Team Metropolitan would fall to Team Central Links 3 & 1 in this match.
At the conclusion of the foursomes, Team Central Links led with 3 points over Team Metropolitan with 1 point.
The afternoon format switched the teams into a four-ball with boys and girls playing against their own gender. First out was Castello and Pyatt for Team Metropolitan against Kaus and Omillian for Team Central Links. Castello and Pyatt were the first to lead after winning Hole 2. Kaus and Omillian got hot on Hole 5, winning four holes in a row. Castello and Pyatt won Hole 9 to make the turn on a positive note, though it was short lived with the opponents getting Hole 10. Team Metropolitan held on and won Holes 14 and 17 to force the match to last, where Team Central Links would win 2 Up.
Second out were Rothery and Suhre for Team Metropolitan to take on Powell and Vineyard for Team Central Links. Powell and Vineyard were the first to win a hole, but Rothery and Suhre kicked into form on Hole 5. Winning three holes, Suhre and Rothery made the turn 1 Up and picked up two more hole wins on the back. Suhre and Rothery secured a point for Team Metropolitan with a 2 & 1 win. The third match of the afternoon was the Metropolitan's Glarner and Moore versus Central Links’ Hoffmann and Mayor. Both sides won in the first two holes before Hoffmann and Mayor took a 2 Up lead through nine. Glarner and Moore tried to mount a comeback on the back winning holes 11 and 13, but they eventually fell 2 & 1 to Central Links.
The final match of the day saw DeLuca and Shy for Team Metropolitan face Fratzel and MacGee for Team Central Links. The front nine was a tightly contested match. Fratzel and MacGee won the first hole before DeLuca and Shy won holes 3 and 4. Central Links took Hole 5 and the match remained at a stalemate for the rest of the front nine. After the turn, DeLuca and Shy started to find their stride. Winning holes 10, 11, and 13 Team Metropolitan was 3 Up. The next went to Central Links, Metropolitan, then Central Links. DeLuca and Shy would close the match out, 2 & 1, with a clutch putt by DeLuca on the 17th green to get the Metropolitan another point.
The four-ball points were split evenly with Team Metropolitan and Team Central Links each taking two. After a long day of golf, Team Metropolitan had collected 3 points, while Team Central Links sat on top with 5 points.
Heading into the Sunday singles matches, Team Metropolitan was facing a daunting battle, needing 5 and a half points out of 8 to win the cup. The team came ready to put up and good fight and make no mistake that they gave it everything they had.
The first match of the day was Madison Pyatt versus Kennedy Kaus. Kaus got off to a good start and Pyatt was fighting to keep things within reach. Pyatt was able to win holes 2, 7, 10 and 11, but Kaus pulled ahead to take the match 4 & 3 and claim the first point of the day for Team Central Links. Next out was Haley Castello to take on Alexi Omillian. With the front nine looking like a similar fate, Castello won holes 2 and 7, but Omillian still made the turn 3 Up. Castello won holes 10 and 11 and took her match to the 17th green. It was there that she would fall to Omillian 2 & 1.
The first boys on the course were Henry Glarner against Patrick Mayor. Glarner came out on fire, winning 5 of the first 8 holes. It wasn’t until Hole 9 that Mayor got one back. Making the turn, Glarner was 4 Up. Mayor won holes 10, 13, and 15 on the back, but it only made a small dent with Glarner taking holes 11, 12, and 16. Glarner grabbed the first point for Team Metropolitan with a 4 & 2 win. Behind this match was Anthony Moore versus Colin Hoffmann. Hoffmann took the early lead of 2 up through 3, but Moore minimized the damage by winning holes 4 and 7 to tie the match up. Hole 9 saw Hoffmann gain momentum that Moore just could not fight off. As Hoffmann won 5 in a row, Moore would fall 5 & 4 and see another point go to Team Central Links. With 3 points on the board, Central Links had secured the cup half way through the matches.
In the fifth match of the day, we sent out Ally Suhre to take on Gabby Vineyard. Suhre was ready for a fight. Vineyard took the first hole, but Suhre came back to win the next two. Vineyard got holes 6 and 7, but Suhre tied the match on the eighth. The back nine is where Suhre gained speed, only giving away one hole. With four holes won on the back, Suhre grabbed a 3 & 2 match victory and a point for her team. Next up was Annie Rothery against Lynn Powell. On the front nine, Powell seemed to have control with Rothery winning just one hole. After making the turn 3 Down, Rothery found some momentum and tied the match back up by Hole 13. Trying to hang in there, Rothery pushed the match to Hole 17 where she would fall 2 & 1.
Second to last of the day, John DeLuca took on Josh Fratzel. This match stayed evenly split for the first nine with each golfer winning two holes and making the turn tied. A win on 10 for Fratzel and a win on 11 for DeLuca proved this could be a long match. Fratzel managed to find a 2 Up lead through 13. DeLuca stayed in the game, winning holes 15 and 16 then tying Hole 17 to take the match to the final hole. It was on the 18th green that the match would be decided and DeLuca would fall and see Fratzel take the match 1 Up.
The final match of the day was Hudson Shy versus Connor MacGee. It didn’t take long to see this match would be a tussle to the end. The first four holes went back and forth from Shy to MacGee. On Hole 5, it looked like Shy might be gaining some momentum, winning holes 5, 6, and 8. MacGee reentered the chat on Hole 9 with Shy making the turn 2 Up. Through Hole 16, Shy won 2 holes while MacGee won the rest. After the 15th the match was tied. Shy pushed the match to the 18th and gave it his all to find another hole and point for his team, but he would fall to MacGee who took the last point to Team Central Links 1 Up.
In the singles, Team Metropolitan claimed 2 points and Team Central Links took the other 6 points. At the end of the weekend, Team Central Links would claim the Mid-America Junior Cup for the fourth year in a row with 11 points. Team Metropolitan would walk away with just 5 points.
Despite the outcome, Team Metropolitan showed a lot of promise with spectators getting to see some incredible shots. The team kept a positive spirit throughout the two days, supporting one another and building a lasting memory. The future of the Metropolitan Amateur Golf Association is looking bright and this team proved that.
Pictured (L to R): Metropolitan Red - Central Links Stripes
(back row) Henry Glarner, Anthony Moore, John DeLuca, Hudson Shy, Patrick Mayor, Colin Hoffmann, Josh Fratzel, Connor MacGee
(front row) Madison Pyatt, Haley Castello, Ally Suhre, Annie Rothery, Alexi Omillian, Kennedy Kaus, Lynn Powell, Gabby Vineyard