Chad Niezing and Patrick Riordan (Meadowbrook Country Club) overwhelmed the field of 22 teams at 8-under to capture the Open Division in the 2024 Jack Geiss 2-Man Team event at Greenbriar Hills Country Club on Sunday, April 21. In the 16-team Senior Division, Andy Frost and Bryan Lovett (Bellerive Country Club) were forced to a one-hole playoff before escaping with the victory.
The annual one-day, 18-hole team competition has one team from each St. Louis District Golf Association (STLDGA) Member club. The champions and runners-up automatically qualify for the Jim Jackson Invitational at Algonquin Golf Club in October.
A sunny day that started with temperatures in the 40s and winds in the 15-20 mph range eventually warmed into the low 60s, but the persistent gusts continued to make the rounds challenging. Lovett said the firmness of the greens and the hole locations combined with the wind created difficult conditions.
Riordan noted that he and Niezing avoided bogeys, which is always the key in best ball competitions.
“We both played well, and we were in every hole,” Niezing stated as he put his arm around his partner. “I just rode Patrick’s coattails – the senior, the veteran. I played solidly myself, but he was the one making all the putts.”
The conditions required Riordan and Niezing to talk their way through shots. “”We’ve both played enough golf,” Niezing continued, “you just manage your game, look at the pin locations and try to play the wind correctly. We were hitting a lot of extra clubs easy, trying to keep them under the wind to stay below the hole.”
Andrew Boudreau and Ryan Schuenke (Quincy Country Club) Placed second at -4. Richard Joyce and Chase Whitaker (Old Watson Country Club) placed third at -2 in the open division.
Brian Hall and Paul Neeman (Persimmon Woods Golf Club) birdied Holes 17 and 18 to force the senior division playoff. On Hole #1, Lovett drained a 6-foot birdie putt from below the hole to win it. As for the pressure of the winner, Lovett said, “I really didn’t think about it, I just go through the routine and hit it. We won, though, because Andy Frost made a lot of putts.”
“We bogeyed that hole the first time,” Lovett recalled. “So, we knew that we had to make good shots, and we were able to pull it off. The challenge at No. 1 is hitting enough of a cut, but not putting it into the right trees.”
Craig Caringer and Mark Taylor (Algonquin Golf Club) finished third at -2 and were the only other senior team to break par.
