Dylan Bekemeier has qualified for his third state golf tournament in three years. Fighting wind and occasional rain, Bekemeier shot a 1-over-par 72, finishing with the second-highest score of the day. He advances to the state tournament at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau next week.
“Something that I set as a standard before the beginning of each year is to get all-state, but I never really look ahead of each tournament,” Bekemeier says.
Monday in Carthage, Bekemeier birdied hole #4, and sat at 1 under par through five holes. He met his first challenge on the 6th hole. Concerned about hitting the water right in front of the green, he chose an 8-iron instead of a 9-iron and drove the ball over the green, leading to a double bogey and dropping his score to +1 for the round.
But Bekemeier recovered quickly, as he often has in his career. He birdied the 7th hole to get back at even par.
“That’s definitely something that’s been very important for me throughout my golfing career. When I was younger, when I’d have one bad hole, I’d let it get to me. I’ve gotten a lot better at that since,” Bekemeier says.
“At state my sophomore year, on the second day, I had a double bogey at 11, and ended up with two more birdies after that. It’s just nice that if you have a bad hole, to keep your mind straight and you have to leave everything behind you.”
Bekemeier says he knew when he hit the clubhouse that he was having the kind of round he would need to advance to state.
“I thought just to come in with a solid first-nine score was key. I was worried about the breaks in-between,” he says. “Taking an hour and a half break, then starting again was kind of weird. It was almost like two different rounds.”
The changing conditions also posed a challenge to the field, on an odd weather day.
“It was really windy at points, then it would die for a little bit. It rained on us really hard for about five minutes, then it just stopped. We thought we were going to get rained on all day,” Bekemeier says. “Then it would get windy again, then stop, then it got really humid after it rained. Almost every hole was different.”
After the midway point, Bekemeier bogeyed the 11th hole before coming up big on the par-five 13th. He laid up his tee shot in front of a creek, leaving himself about 280 yards to the hole. Then he boomed his next shot all the way to the green, to the amazement of a course official standing nearby.
“He said that’s a dang long ways. If you end up getting it there, I’ll be amazed. And I ended up hitting it really well,” says Bekemeier. “It just kind of drew the entire way there, and ended up hitting on the right side of the green, and I made the putt.”
The eagle on 13 left him at 1-under par, setting him up for his overall 72 and his third trip to state.
The Class 4 championship will be held at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, one of the top courses in Missouri. Bekemeier says he doesn’t know much about it, other than its reputation.
“I’ve just heard that it’s really hard, but it’s really, really nice, though. I’m looking forward to it,” he says.
Next weekend will be a whirlwind for Bekemeier, who plans to play a practice round at Dalhousie on Saturday, drive back to Republic for graduation on Sunday, then immediately leave for Cape Girardeau, where the state tournament starts Monday.
Bekemeier won the Class 3 state championship as a sophomore, and is making his 3rd straight trip to state as a golfer. He’s attempting to win a 4th state championship, after winning two basketball championships in the past two seasons, to go with his golf title.
