The past few weeks have been mostly electric for the St. Louis U. High golf team. Through four matches, the Jr. Bills are 3-1, beating opponents by a combined 65 strokes. In addition to the matches, the Jr. Bills have played in two tournaments, finishing runner-up in the Bantle Tournament and taking home first place silverware this past Monday in the Bulldog Battle hosted at Winghaven Country Club. 

Starting off their season on March 29, the Jr. Bills crushed the Vianney Griffins, 226-247. The low score for SLUH was a 35 by junior Thomas Ziegler, who played very well on a difficult Dogwood course. It was also his first varsity match.

“I expected some nerves going in,” said Ziegler. “Didn’t really experience any on the first tee and I just stuck to the game plan and shot a good score.”

The next day, SLUH hosted its golf tournament at Missouri Bluffs Golf Club, which consisted of 20 schools and 100 golfers. The five golfers fielded by the Jr. Bills were seniors Samuel Fix, Joseph Perotti, Grant Sussman and juniors Louis Cornett and Ziegler. With a team score of 317, SLUH fell just two strokes short of first place, losing to its bitter rival Chaminade. 

“We hit the ball extremely well at the Bluffs but we did not take advantage of our ball striking,” said head coach Dan Reardon. “If we had scored well, I think we could have found 2 strokes.”

Following a disappointing defeat, the Jr. Bills rebounded two days later by winning a match against Ladue, 231-258 at Forest Park.

With a short break after their win against Ladue, the Jr. Bills went right back to the range, wanting to make a statement against John Burroughs on April 6. 

“After not playing well at the Bluffs, we worked hard in those days off, preparing for John Burroughs which we knew was at our home course,” said Sussman. 

In a round where they sizzled, SLUH lit up the Hawthorne at Forest Park with a team best score of 212, just two-over par for a group of six golfers. Perotti shot 32, 3 deep, to provide the lowest round of the year while Cornett and Sussman packed a little spice by shooting 35, even par, and SLUH comfortably won by 20 strokes. 

“All of us are capable of going under par,” said Sussman. “It was great to see us perform that well that day and hope we can perform that way no matter where or when we play.”

Coming off their best team performance this season, it looked as if the Jr. Bills were peaking at the right time, as only two days later they faced Chaminade—who, according to the St. Louis Post Dispatch, is the favorite to win the state title. On a cold, rainy afternoon, the Jr. Bills faced off against the Red Devils on Dogwood in Forest Park and had their worst team performance of the year. Shooting a 234, 23 strokes worse then their score only two days earlier, the Jr. Bills lost by three strokes. 

“We wanted to beat Chaminade,” said Sussman. “We all made mistakes that round. We all hit bad shots but we hopefully can learn from these mistakes and win May 10 during districts.”

SLUH, still feeling the sting of its previous loss, channeled its frustration into a dominating performance this past Monday. Playing in the Bulldog Battle tournament, the Jr. Bills had a chance to win the trophy for the first time since 2017. It would not prove easy as Fix was ruled out due to a wisdom tooth injury caused by the operation he had received prior to the tournament. In his place, junior Samuel Orlando was selected by experienced veteran Reardon. The other four golfers were unchanged from the Bantle tournament and relied on their past experience for a blowout victory. Ziegler, 74, tied for first with 3 other players and advanced to a playoff where he lost to a Westiminster player.

“The whole day I was pretty calm,” said Ziegler. “I was pretty nervous riding up to the tee but the nerves went away after the tee shot. Overall, it was very exciting.

Cornett overcame the rocky stretch of holes 12 through 14, which he played at 4-over par before ending with a run of 2-under par through his last three holes. On the 18th green, he missed a birdie putt to advance to the playoff and finished tied for 5th with a 75.

Sussman (76) tied for 8th. 

“It was great to get the win,” said Sussman. “People might not think golf is a team sport but it really is. It was great to see all the guys go out and play well.”

Perotti shot 78 and the late addition Orlando shot 83. As the only team to have four scores in the 70s, the Jr. Bills comfortably won with a score of 303 to beat De Smet and Eureka by 13 strokes. 

“Winghaven is a real deal kind of golf course,” said Reardon. “The numbers we put up were very impressive. The fact that we had 10 nine-hole rounds and eight of those rounds were under 40, that is very impressive.”

As the season progresses, the Jr. Bills look ahead to next Monday where they will face off in the Webster Cup at Crescent Farms. With a strong showing in the first month of the season, SLUH looks to capitalize even more in tournament situations and bring home more silverware in the following weeks.