The Metropolitan
April-May 2020
By The Numbers
21
Hard to believe, and Scott Langley’s recent Web.com Tour win notwithstanding, 21 years had passed between PGA Tour wins for a St. Louis-area player when Adam Long captured the Desert Classic in January, 2019. St. Louis resident Trevor Dodds had rang the bell in winning the 1998 Greater Greensboro Classic. It didn’t ring again until Long, a Francis Howell grad, birdied the 72nd holr.
The Erratic Ball
30
This summer, Aug. 6-8 at Meadowbrook Country Club, will feature the 30th playing of the Metropolitan Amateur Championship. Brad Carpenter captured the 2019 edition at Aberdeen Golf Course with a record 54-hole score of 206. Don Bliss won the first Metropolitan Amateur at Country Club at the Legends in 1991 with a score of 218.
After hitting a drive from the tee box, a player believes his or her ball behaved erratically while in flight. Before playing the next shot, the player states the ball is cracked and plays another ball. Is the player entitled to do so? 1. Yes. The player is the sole judge as to whether the original ball is cracked. But he or she may not use the original ball at a following hole. 2. Yes, and he or she is allowed to use the original ball at a following hole. 3. No. The player may only put another ball into play for the original ball if it can be clearly seen the original ball is cut or cracked, and that the damage happened during the hole being played. 4. No. The player is not allowed to put another ball into play because, frankly, cracked balls matter. The player is allowed to use a sewing kit or a soddering gun to mend the cracked ball, then seek medical attention for the ball after the hole.
13
The number of top-5 finishes by Skip Berkmeyer in the Metropolitan Amateur championships. Berkmeyer, who captured the title in 2009, has four other runner-up finishes.
42
The number of USGA championships Jim Holtgrieve has played in. Holtgrieve won the inaugural U.S Mid-Amateur in 1981, made it to the semifinals of the 1983 British Amateur, tied for 57th at the 1978 U.S. Open and tied for 41st at the 1982 Masters. Holtgrieve played on three winning Walker Cup teams and captained Walker Cup teams in 2011 and 2013.
Answer Rules 15-1 and 15-2 explain the player must complete play of the hole with the ball with which he began the hole, unless he is proceeding under a Rule that permits him to substitute a ball. The player may change balls between the play of two holes as well.
0
The world record for the fewest holesin-one, shared by St. Louis golf writer Dan O’Neill. “The Bogeyman” started his ace-less streak in 197, when he hit his first golf shot and failed to sink it. He has played numerous rounds of bad golf since without a single ace.
A player who substitutes another ball when not permitted to do so incurs the general penalty (loss of hole in match play or a two stroke penalty in stroke play) under the applicable rule. 3
