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Westwood Hills claims SEMO Cup for 14th time
Jimmy Vernon and Tyler Norton teamed up for a bogey-free 36 holes while their teammates also played under par as the Westwood Hills Country Club team claimed the SEMO Cup on their home course Saturday.
Westwood Hills won for the 14th time and first since 2021 in the event which started in 1989. The course hosted the event just 4 1⁄2 months after a tornado destroyed over 100 trees.
The Poplar Bluff golfers finished with a combined score of 678 for a seven-shot win. Hidden Trails from Dexter was second at 686 followed by Farmington’s Crown Pointe at 696.
Cape Girardeau Country Club was a shot back at 697 followed by defending champion Fox Haven of Sikeston at 699 as half of the field finished under par and Jackson’s Kimbeland Country Club hit the number at even-par 710.
Vernon and Norton tied for the lowest round of the day at 13-under 129, while the pairings of Bobby Godwin and Neil Pullum, Derek Rahlmann and Brad Thielemier, Nathan Woolard and Nick Woolard, Adam Ivie and Logan Vancil, and Danner McCauley and Zack Stricker all finished under par.
The event features nine holes each of best ball, scramble, Chapman and alternate shot formats as each team has six pairings with five scoring counting toward the team score in each format.
Westwood Hills led in only one format, the opening best-ball, and held a two-shot lead at the midway point over Hidden Trails, which had the low score in the scramble. Both teams shot six-under during the Chapman format before the hosts pulled away over the final nine holes.
Vernon and Norton were one of only three pairings to play under par during the alternate shot format while Rahlmann and Thielemier shot one-over. Ivie and Vancil, along with McCauley and Stricker each shot two-over while the Woolards’ four-over score put Westwood Hills at 182, five shots better than the alternate shot score by Hidden Trails.
Chance Holden and Tyler Holden had a 36-hole score of four-under 138 to lead Hidden Trails, which last won the second of two Cup titles in 2022. Andrew Stuever and Logan Robey shot 135, Spencer Warren and Garrett Christian finished at 138 along with Chad Woolridge and Izzy Guzman. Kyle Christian and Matt Christian also finished under par for the day while Matt Hartman and Jon Bowman scored in the Chapman and alternate shot formats for Hidden Trails.
Kimbeland’s Todd Obergoenner and Blake Driskell tied Vernon and Norton at 129 for low 36-hole round. The Jackson golfers had two bogeys, both during the alternate shot format on the par-four 13th and the par-four 17th, to go with 15 birdies. They won the scramble format at 6-under 29 and the Chapman format at five-under 31.
Vernon and Norton had 13 birdies, playing the par-fours at srven-under and the par-fives at four-under, while the notoriously fast greens at Westwood Hills gave the host an advantage. Vernon and Norton shot two-under 33 to win the alternate shot format, while Godwin and Pullum had the best score during the best ball format at five-under 36.
Crown Pointe Golf Club in Farmington will host the 2025 event.