2023 APT Publinks Championship Results

The Amateur Players Tour returned to Annbriar Golf Course for the APT Public Links Championship. Located in Waterloo, IL, Annbriar is a hidden gem located just outside of the St. Louis Metro area. Annbriar hosted the Amateur Players Tour’s first event back in October of 2018. The course is consistently rated as one of the top public golf courses you can play in Illinois. Last weekend, Annbriar welcomed 159 players from all over the country back home to the birthplace of the APT.

In Division 1, Nate McCutcheon (St. Louis) and Ryan Eckelkamp (St. Louis) batted it out over the two-day Major. In round 1, McCutcheon came out of the gate hot shooting four under-par 68, while Eckelkamp shot a one under-par 71 round. Just two strokes behind Eckelkamp was Tom Buffington (Central Illinois) shooting one over-par 73. In round two, as Division 1 started it began to rain. With weather being the great equalizer, it was anyone’s game. During the final round Eckelkamp was able to card four birdies to shoot one under-par 71 two days in a row. Buffington was consistent as well shooting one over-par 73 for the second day. However, McCutcheon was able to grow his lead. With five birdies in the final round, he shot two under-par 70 to be crowned the Division 1 APT Public Links Champion for the second year in a row. Ed McDugle (Memphis) was the Division 1 Senior champion shooting five over-par in round one and one over-par in round two for a total score of six over-par.

In Division 2, the field was stacked with 2022 Sr. North American Championship winner Tim Rinker (Mid-Missouri) and St. Louis’ best Division 2 players. Knowing we had the protentional for bad weather on Sunday, player knew that every shot was going to count. In round 1, Rinker had an even-par performance shooting 72, while Mike Mervis (St. Louis) shot a four over-par to put him in second place going into round 2. Marcus Wirth (Phoenix) fell one shot behind Mervis shooting four over-par 77. In round 2, it was rainy in the morning, but the heavy rain never showed up. Mervis ended up shooting five over-par 77 and Wirth shot one better on the second day shooting four over-par 76. Mervis and Wirth tied for second place shooting a total of nine over-par for the tournament. Sr. North American Championship winner Rinker was able to maintain his lead to be crowned the Division 2 and Division 2 Senior APT Public Links Champion shooting a total of four over-par for the tournament.

In Division 3, the players were in for a fight to the finish with it being the largest field size in the tournament. Mary Kolda (St. Louis) coming off a Major win at Purdue was trying for a repeat. Kolda shot eight over-par 80 to tie for second with Ralph Allen (St. Louis) after the first round. All the attention was on Andrew Zeigler (Kansas City). Zeigler came out and broke eighty for the first time in his golfing career shooting 7 over-par 79 to put him in the lead going into day two. Kyle Shartzer (St. Louis) said that he was ready to make a move on day two being two shots out of the top 3. Shartzer did just that. Shartzer put together an eight over-par 80 round to put him tied for second place. Allen and Zeigler battled back and forth all day during the round. This battle would determine who would take home the National Major win. It all came down to the 18^th hole. With nerves mounting, Zeigler took double bogey on the last hole while Allen was able to clinch the win with bogey. Zeigler finished the tournament tied for second with Shartzer shooting a total of eighteen over-par for the tournament. Allen finished 17 over-par for the tournament and was crowned the Division 3 and Division 3 Senior APT Public Links Champion with his first National Major win.

In Division 4, Darren Fichtner (Kansas City) and Doug Orcutt (St. Louis) had quite the battle going during round 1. They went back and forth all day until the 17^th hole. Fichtner took a triple bogey on the par three while Orcutt stuck it close and was able to birdie.  Steven (Papa Middy) Middendorf (St. Louis) found himself in the top five going into the final round. Middendorf made a move to shoot up to the top of the leaderboard during round 2 shooting 8 over-par 80 to come in second place. In windy conditions Fichtner shot 17 over-par 89 to fall one shot behind Middendorf to take home 3^rd place. Orcutt was able to maintain his lead shooting 11 over-par 83 in the final round to win Division 4 and Division 4 Senior.

In Division 5, Chad Johnson (St. Louis) and Robert Rosenbaum (Iowa) found themselves being the ones to beat after round 1. Rosenbaum shot 15 over-par 87 and Johnson Shot 16 over-par 88. With the wind whipping, Keith St. Pierre (St. Louis), Christopher Jones (St. Louis), and Steve Smith (Cincinnati) found an opportunity to make up some ground. Smith and Johnson ended up tying for 3^rd place in Division 3 shooting a total of 41 over-par for the tournament. Smith was crowned the Division 5 Senior Champion. St. Pierre and Jones came shooting up the leaderboard. On the 18^th hole of play, Jones was able to force St. Pierre into a sudden death playoff. They headed off to #18 for the first playoff hole. Both took double bogey 7 on the tough par 5. Then they headed to #10. With hands shaking on the par 4 Jones took bogey and St. Pierre was able to make par to clinch the National Major Victory.