ST. PETERS • The Class 4 Sectional 2 boys golf tournament at Old Hickory Golf Club mixed in some old and some new Wednesday.
The old holdovers from the tournament consisted largely of the Francis Howell golf team succeeding in the postseason, while the new centered on DeSmet and Spartans golfer Nicholas Arman.
DeSmet put its stamp of freshness on the event by simply winning the team title where there was none before as the sectional round is new to Missouri this year.
The newness for Arman came in the fact that he won the tournament, his first event win in high school, by shooting a one over 73.
The greatest attribute Arman possessed in the win was his consistency. He shot a 36 on the front nine and added a 37 on the back nine.
"This feels good because I hadn't won a high school tournament," Arman said. "I could have done better, actually. I bogeyed three holes in a row. It was on nine, 10 and 11 because I got kind of nervous because I thought I had to carry the rest of my team."
Even though Arman proved vulnerable in the middle of his round, he started and finished strong and that carried him to victory.
One of his early highlights came on the very first hole (a par-four, 306-yard hole), where he sank a long putt for birdie to get his round off on the right foot.
"It was a long, 50-footer," recalled Arman. "That got me off to a good start. I made a good bogey save on No. 2 (a par-four, 374-yard hole) and from there, it steadied out and I parred most of the rest of them."
As good as Arman was, his team proved just as capable.
DeSmet took the team title at the sectional with a team total of 322, which was six strokes better than Francis Howell's 328.
Both programs qualified their entire team for the state meet at Twin Oaks Country Club in Springfield later this month by virtue of the top-two finish. It is Howell's third straight state berth.
"This was a rough scoring day," DeSmet coach Frank Hawkey said. "The great thing was that the other guys took the pressure off of (Arman). This was, easily, Scott (Hamel's) worst round and he's our No. 1 and you don't expect that. I think they all (helped each other)."
The rest of the team scores were: Timberland in third with a 337; Troy Buchanan in fourth at 352; Chaminade in fifth at 358; Parkway Central in sixth at 385; and Pattonville in seventh at 395 strokes.
Howell was all about the No. 2 Wednesday. In addition to the team's second place finish, Howell golfers Cody Stoll and Mike Wootten finished tied for second individually with seven-over-par 79s.
Wootten carded a 42 on the front nine combined with a 37, while Stoll scored a 39 and 40 to account for his score.
"I was hoping to get first or second when you've got DeSmet and Chaminade in your sectional," Francis Howell coach Carl Wayne said. "With teams like Troy and Timberland here, there are a lot of good schools. I think we showed ourselves pretty well, even though we lost to DeSmet."
Both Wootten and Stoll echoed the fact Old Hickory proved to be a tough, unforgiving course Wednesday.
"You've got to keep the ball in play here," Stoll said. "This was a tough day."
"If you miss in the wrong spots, you definitely pay for it," added Wootten.
The other golfers who finished in the top 12 and, therefore, qualified for the state meet are: Timberland's Ryan Keller, Zachary Cutler, Jackson Lane, Joshua O'Hearn and Jonathan Roberson, Holt's Corey Robertson, Francis Howell North's Clint Toedtman, Troy's Kyle Stratman and Taylor Hutson, and Chaminade's Alex Doneff, Michael Kotthoff and Stephen Wilson.
