The Metropolitan
August 2021
Westrich Wins 31st Metropolitan Amat
Nick Westrich with the Jim Tom Blair trophy Ladue, MO – Nick Westrich won the 31st Metropolitan Amateur Championship on Saturday at St. Louis Country Club, setting two 54-hole scoring records in the process. The junior at Central Missouri shot 8-under 205 over the three days of competition to set new 54-hole scoring and lowest score to par records. “What a beautiful course, just in perfect shape,” Westrich said. “You just have to keep it in the fairway out here. Keep it in the fairway and hit the greens and you’re going to make some putts. The greens are just perfect so you can get the ball rolling. Luckily, I was able to do that this week, I just kept it in the fairway pretty well and kept attacking.” The Crown Pointe member, who never played a practice round at St. Louis CC, shot par-or-better all three days (71-66-68) to best the 156-player field. Westrich shared the lead with Joe Migdal at 5-under overall heading into the final 18. He wasted no time, carding a birdie on the par 4 1st, the hardest hole of the day averaging 4.68 strokes. He would keep the lead the rest of the way. A bogey on No. 4 was his only miscue, but he erased it with a tap in birdie on the par 5 5th. A birdie on the par 3 7th got him to 7-under overall before the turn. He would add another birdie on No. 10, and pars the rest of the way gave him the two-shot victory. His championship moment came on No. 17. After hitting it in the trench greenside bunker, he was able to save par and hold that two-shot lead with two to play. Westrich had his college teammate, Bennett Tiefenbrunn, on the bag for the final round. “[Bennett] helped so much, I really appreciated his help. He knows the course really well, he’s a great player, one of the best short-game players I’ve ever seen, so I knew he was going to help me a lot on the greens. I couldn’t have done it without him.” Westrich, who won the 2020 Missouri Amateur and made the cut at the World Wide Technology Metropolitan Open Championship in June, now adds the Jim Tom Blair trophy to his amateur golf accomplishments.
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