The Central Region kicked off their Spring 2014 season at Payne Stewart Golf Club in Branson, Missouri. Payne Stewart has been rated the top course in Missouri by Golfweek.
The course was playing at 6,741 yards with a rating of 72.4 and a slope of 130. The Sunday round of the tournament was called off before the start of Saturday’s round due to a winter storm warning. Saturday’s round started off with the high in the low 50s with overcast skies. As the day progressed temperatures began to drop into the mid to low 40s. The field was composed of eight teams and an individual from Des Moines Community College.
It was a tight one in this one day tournament at Payne Stewart with the top three teams within seven strokes of each other. Saint Louis University won their first NCCGA Central Regional Tournament with a combined score of 421 and was led by individual Medalist Tanner Rabb shooting a 75 (+3). SLU came out of the gates showing that they too should be considered one of the powerhouses of the Central after finishing 6th in both of their Regional Tournaments last semester. Four strokes behind SLU was the University of Missouri with a combined 425. The University of Iowa made their first NCCGA Central Tournament appearance taking third overall with a combined 428.
Tanner Rabb was awarded the tournament medalist shooting 75 (+3). The All-Tournament Team was made up of Maynard Newhouse 77 (+5), Austin Howe 79 (+7), Eric Copeland 80 (+8), Ben Mattingly 80 (+8), Nick Heyrman 83 (+11), Jeremy Mason 84 (+12) and Dylan Mozier 84 (+12).
The tournament ran very smoothly thanks to the support of the staff at Payne Stewart Golf Club. It was unfortunate that the second day of the tournament was cancelled. Hopefully we have better luck in the beginning of April when we play our second tournament at Eagle Knoll Golf Club.
Bill Donovan is the NCCGA Central Regional Coordinator. He can be reached at NCCGACentral@gmail.com or on Twitter @NCCGACentral.
