The St. Louis U. High golf season came to a close for all but three players this past week. On Thursday, the Jr. Bills returned to the links one last time as a full team to face De Smet Jesuit in the second leg of the Jesuit Cup. Ending the season with a win, SLUH regained the J-Cup for the first time since 2017. Following their success on Thursday, the five players on the district team competed on Monday at Forest Park in the Class 5 District 1 Tournament with the top 18 players advancing to State. Needing four players to qualify as a team, the Jr. Bills fell one short and will send only three individuals to Sedalia Country Club this coming Monday and Tuesday: junior Louis Cornett and seniors Sam Fix and Grant Sussman. 

Tied heading into the second leg of the J-Cup, the Jr. Bills needed a strong performance from the entire team, with the format being a match play. On a day where the five district players failed to play well, the rest of the team carried the Jr. Bills to victory. Seniors Josh Vashi and Kellen Hamilton secured two points with holes to spare to put the Jr. Bills out to an early lead. Seniors Alex Tarlas and Trent Jacoby secured two more points against tough opponents to give the Bills a total of four points. The points produced by the seniors would prove to be crucial for SLUH to regain the J-Cup.  

Junior Thomas Ziegler, playing in the No. 1 seed, lost to De Smet’s Drew Hollman 3 and 1, the first of the top five to lose. Ziegler won his second hole and then lost four of the final seven holes. Fix lost to his opponent, the second of the top five players to lose while Sussman also lost, being down three strokes with two holes to play. With the race tightening up, senior Joey Perotti, in the second to last group, clinched the title for the Jr. Bills, sinking a few long putts to come back and win on the ninth hole. 

With the score 6-4, the final group’s outcome did not matter. However, Cornett halved a point with a grade school teammate to boost the Jr. Bills to a 9-6 win, 6.5-4.5 on the final day. 

“It was great to win. It wasn’t fun to watch them lift the Cup two years ago but we got it back this year,” said Sussman. “It was definitely a team win. I personally did not play well but I think except for Fix all the other seniors won their matches. They dominated and we wouldn’t have won without them.”

Following the statement win against De Smet, Cornett, Ziegler, Fix, Perotti, and Sussman geared up for Districts at Forest Park on Monday. 

“Districts being at our home course, we all expected to get five guys on to State,” said Sussman. “We knew we could play extremely well there, but we didn’t. It was disappointing to not get four or five guys through to State but I think it's exciting for the three of us who moved on.”

Needing four players to qualify in the top 18 to have a team at State, SLUH’s players were well aware of their expected and required individual performances. 

Cornett led the groups out, teeing off at 8:00 a.m. with Chaminade, CBC, and Priory. Electric from the get go, Cornett made a birdie on his second hole, and was 1-under through four. On hole five, he missed a dead straight five-footer for his second birdie, tapped in for par, but was visibly disappointed with his miss. On the next four holes, Cornett failed to get up and down twice for par, and hit driver where it was a mistake and went +4 during that stretch, turning in a 38, +3 on the Redbud course.

Sussman was the second to tee off, the captain for the Jr. Bills. One-over through his first three holes, Sussman was off to a decent start. On the fourth hole, Sussman tripled, sending him to four-over. However, he rebounded well with a 30-foot birdie putt on the par 5 fifth. Two more bogies would cost him on the front nine, and he finished with a five-over-par 40. 

Perotti teed off third. Struggling to make pars from the start, Perotti was +3 on his first three holes. He made a few crucial pars and finished with a five-over-par 40 as well looking to make up strokes on the back nine. 

Fix also followed the two seniors before him with a 40 on the front nine; a triple bogey on the tough par 6 cost him three strokes. He sliced it out of bounds and had to retee but would regain his lost momentum before the day was over. 

The final man out for the Jr. Bills was Ziegler. With the two bogeys to open up his round, Ziegler was visibly frustrated, slamming clubs and talking to himself, disappointed with his performance. However, Captain Ziegler righted the rocking ship and finished with a three-over 38 before falling apart on the back down. 

“I had a mental breakdown,” said Ziegler. “I was overconfident.”

Starting his back nine, Ziegler was feeling good. However, his emotions soon changed as he went double-bogey, double-bogey, bogey, and triple-bogey on his first four holes on the Dogwood course. The triple bogey on hole four consisted of a few duffed chips and Ziegler was unable to make any birdies on the final stretch to bolster himself into the top 18. He finished with a 13-over 83 to tie for 27th. 

Fix rebounded from his 40 on the front to shoot a 38 on the back, barely missing a putt on the 18th to finish with a 78. Fix was right on the cut line for the to 18 and was nervously waiting for the final groups to come in. He tied for 17th and made it to State with no shots to spare.  

Perotti, unable to overcome his slow start, struggled to regain his groove on the back nine. He finished with an 81 and was very disappointed with his performance. A great player here at SLUH, Perotti was comforted by his teammates after his heartbreaking elimination. He finished tied for 21st. 

Sussman shot 37 on the back nine, propelling him into the top 18. He finished with a 77 and tied for 14th.

Cornett struggled on his back nine, hitting only two of nine greens. However, his 13 putts on the back nine propelled him to a 37, and he scratched out a five-over 75 and a tie for 8th.

Cornett, Fix, and Sussman will be preparing this week for State at Sedalia Country Club, playing a practice round there Sunday before competing Monday and Tuesday for the top spot in Missouri.