Mix of Veteran and Youth Advance to Sunday Old Warson Cup Semifinals
#1 Seed Drew Pranger battled a wet golf course and sore back to advance to the Semifinals of the 2019 Old Warson Cup Sunday. The defending champion and reigning Player of the Year will face Kyle Szyhowski at 7:00am in the first Semifinal. Pranger added as defending champ, “It is fun, I got to see the Old Warson Cup that stays here (Old Warson) and it is nice to be back. I’m just excited and it is always a nice opportunity to play this great golf course again. Pranger defeated Frankie Thomas (1up) in the morning on Saturday and then got by Tony Gumper (3&2) in the afternoon.
Szyhowski, who works in the golf shop at Old Warson, got past Ryan Eckelkamp (4&2) in the Round of 16 for the chance to play his former UMSL teammate Chris Ferris in the Quarters. Szyhowski had a great ball striking all around and would advance with a 4&3 win. The first semifinal will go off Hole 1 at 7:00am Sunday.
Chad Niezing has quietly been one of the better players in this region for sometime. Niezing advanced to his second Old Warson Cup Semifinal on Saturday by defeating a couple solid college players. In the morning, Niezing would got up early on Reilly Ahearn, another UMSL golfer, and would move on with a 4&3 victory. In the quarterfinal round, Niezing would get Brad Carpenter who took out 5-time champion Skip Berkmeyer with a 2&1 win. Carpenter is coming off a successful career at Missouri State University where he set the single season scoring average record in 2018-19.
Again, Niezing got up early on Carpenter out of the gate to a 3up lead to see Carpenter battle back to tie the match. Niezing took a breath and said, “hey you know, it does not really matter, just play your game and you never know when someone is going to make a mistake. I kept grinding and hit two awesome 4-irons into 17 and 18 to seal the deal.”
A newcomer to the Old Warson Cup field in 2019 is Crimson Callahan (pictured left). Callahan came into the weekend as the 11th Seed and would have to battle reigning 2018 Senior Player of the Year Buddy Allen for 20 holes in the morning to move on. In the afternoon, Callahan would face the 2014 Old Warson Cup Runner-Up Alex Cusumano. Cusumano had a long wait from the morning after a 6&5 victory to start the day. A tight match early, Callahan would win holes 6-8 to build a 3-up lead. While Cusumano fought back, Callahan would win Hole 14 to advance to Sunday. Niezing and Callahan will go in the 2nd Semifinal at 7:15am.
To catch up on all of Saturday’s scoring, visit the 2019 Old Warson Cup webpage and follow along on Sunday as we provide hole-by-hole LIVE scoring throughout the day to crown the 2019 Old Warson Cup champ.
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