The Metropolitan
July 2021
The 30th annual, 31st Playing of the M Jesse Guilford captured the title.
The Bogeyman Dan O’Neill
(Editor’s note: This story appears courtesy of Morning Read (www. morningread.com) The 30th annual Metropolitan Amateur will be conducted Aug. 5-7 at St. Louis Country Club, the Good Lord willing and the virus don’t spike. Another way of putting it would be to say this will be the 31st playing of the championship. See how that works? That is, an event can’t have an “annual” date until it has taken place once before. The curveball reminds this scribe of another piece of terminology that drive him crazy, i.e. the term “defending champion.” For instance, Seth Fair captured the 2020 Metropolitan Open at Lake Forest Country Club. Fair returned to finish second in the 2021 championship in June. Did Fair’s failure to “defend” mean he relinquished his 2020 title. Of course not. Fair is and always will be the 2020 Metropolitan Open champion, no matter what happens this year. Yes, it’s a nitpick. But if you can’t pick a nit every once in a while, by God, what are we doing here? On whatever terms you choose, the Metropolitan Amateur at SLCC will be special. The spectacular golf course, designed by the legendary Charles Blair Macdonald, is a fitting place to toast a championship that began in 1991. And what a debut it was. Don Bliss, among the best St. Louis amateurs to ever put the ball in the air, was the first champion at Country Club of the Legends. The runner-up was Terry Tessary - a private course player and a public course player - what the Metropolitan was all about. Thirty years later, SLCC also is commemorating a rich piece of its history. Onehundred years ago the club played host to the 1921 U.S. Amateur, a championship that included Bobby Jones and reigning champion Charles “Chick” Evans in the field. Jones was eliminated in the quarterfinals and Evans in the semifinals, and
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Guilford didn’t win the event in 192 prevailed at The Country Club. But in ca Guilford is still the 1921 U.S. Amateur c
To be honest, the Bogeyman has a soft “Metro,” as the championship is widely k have a little scar tissue. To explain, as a y Post-Dispatch in 1995, he didn’t just c at Spencer T. Olin Golf Course, he parti
We all know that golf tournaments Louis summers are vulnerable to ho on Manchester Rd., it’s a given. But t championship took “sweltering” to a wh and humidity that week was paralyzin Casey Stengel said of Busch Stadium du well.”
Jim Holtgrieve was the “defending cham wore long pants on the first day of com a 1-over-par 73. The Bogeyman did no like Holtgrieve, toting his own luggage rectitude, volunteered to carry for Hol feature a heat index of 119 degrees
Out of empathy, Holtgrieve arrived the Ol’ Bogey wasn’t having it. “No, no,” said Give me everything you got.”
Meanwhile, other players huddled aroun an “over-under” of 14 holes on the loop
From that point, the memory gets a litt be a “good walk spoiled” became some feinting, requiring medical attention, as
Our threesome was holding its own “Bummer” Berry had irrepressible Don who was undeterred by a spat of heat Blosch, who had won the Metropolita earlier. “You can’t help but learn by bei Blosch, explaining her presence.
