Old Hickory Golf Club Wins 2021 Thomas O. Sobbe Cup
Webster Groves, MO – Old Hickory defeated Spring Lake Country Club 4-2 in the finals of the Thomas O. Sobbe Cup Friday night at Algonquin Golf Club.
This marks Old Hickory’s first win at the Sobbe Cup. The club had finished second twice, in 2006, and more recently in 2019.
Jeff Cleveland sunk a 40-foot putt just before darkness to get the winning point for his club. The four-ball handicap match of Cleveland and Josh Crume of Old Hickory was tied with Spring Lake’s Haily Meyer and Andrew Smith. A win by Spring Lake on No. 18 would send the cup into a playoff, but Cleveland’s putt gave Old Hickory the win by two points.
Tony Gumper gained the first point for Old Hickory in the finals. Going 2-0 on the day and never making it to hole 18, Gumper won 3 and 1 in his final match. Gumper made 16 birdies in regulation to lead all players.
Zach Holland joined Gumper in going 2-0 in scratch matches. Holland won his finals match 5 and 4 and made 13 birdies through his two matches.
Andrew Francis won 1-up in his singles handicap match getting Old Hickory to 3 points. Francis was 3-up after 10 and traded birdies on the last with Spring Lake’s Gary Boots was enough to get the point.
Spring Lake’s Jason Traeder won 7 and 6 in his professional match to get his team’s first point. Bill Latour and Mike Ridder won their senior four-ball handicap match 3 and 1.
Old Hickory defeated Greenbriar Hills in the semifinals 3.5-2.5. Tony Gumper earned the first point for Old Hickory after winning 8 and 6. Gumper birdied seven of his first nine holes to take a commanding lead at the turn. Two more birdies on 11 and 12 got his team the first point of the day early on.
Matt Gindler, Director of Golf at Greenbriar Hills, earned the first point for his side winning 3 and 2 over Zach Conlin, PGA Teaching Professional at Old Hickory. The first singles handicap match between Andrew Francis and Jeff Marquitz was halved shortly thereafter to get it to 1 ½ points apiece.
Gary Hill and Joe Amlong added a point for Old Hickory with a 3 and 2 win in the senior four-ball handicap match and all eyes turned toward Zach Holland who was 1-up headed to No. 18. A win would close it, a halve would open the door for a possible tie for Greenbriar Hills. Holland knocked it on in three for 30-foot birdie putt on the par 5 18th and he holed it to get Old Hickory to 3.5 points. Holland came from back from being 1-down through 15.
The second semifinal between Spring Lake Country Club and Westborough Country Club needed extra holes. Spring Lake got out to an early 2-0 lead after wins in the professional and singles handicap matches. Jason Traeder won 3 and 2, while Gary Boots won 2 and 1. That lead quickly went away after Sean Brennan and Kevin Shapiro of Westborough won their scratch matches 3 and 2 and 5 and 4, respectively.
Spring Lake added a point with a 2 and 1 win by Andrew Smith and Haily Meyer in a four-ball handicap match. One group before, Westborough’s Bill Newhouse and Steve Stolze would win their senior four-ball handicap match 2-up to make it 3-3.
Sean Brennan (WCC) and Jamie Blaesing (SLCC) would go into a sudden-death playoff starting on No. 1 to see who would face Old Hickory in the finals. The pair both parred No. 1. A par on No. 2 for Blaesing would be enough to make it to the finals.
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