That was close: Team Peoria edges Team Tazwood for Junior River Cup title

By Steve Stein

One putt came to a stop at the lip of the cup. Another putt went in and out.

Those two excruciating misses on the 18th hole at Lick Creek Golf Course in Pekin ended up playing a huge role in deciding the winner of the 2025 Junior River Cup golf tournament.

Team Peoria beat Team Tazwood 10-8 and earned the coveted Steve Maxheimer Memorial Trophy in one of the most competitive tournaments in the 26-year history of the Junior River Cup. 

The 18th-hole misses by Team Tazwood golfers happened Saturday (July 26) during the two-man best ball portion of the two-day match play event. Because of those misses, Team Peoria held a 4-2 lead instead of the teams being tied 3-3 heading into the individual matches Sunday (July 27). 

The 12 individual matches did not separate the teams. The four Junior High School Division individual matches were split 2-2 and the eight High School Division individual matches were split 4-4, leaving the teams tied 6-6 for the day and giving Team Peoria the tournament win.

It wasn't just the final score of the tournament that was close. The matches were close, too.

"I can't remember a year where so many matches ended on the 18th green. It was a challenge doing the math in your head (Sunday) trying to figure out which team was winning," said veteran Team Peoria captain Daniel Young. 

"You almost expected every match to end on 18," said Team Tazwood captain Gregg Guenther.

Team Peoria's Drew Gama won two down-to-the-wire matches in his fourth Junior River Cup competition. He and partner Jack Coulter won 2 and 1 in best ball play as Coulter made several birdie putts on the back nine, and Gama won his individual match by the same score.

Gama relished the opportunities to play close matches.

"They were awesome," he said. "Close matches are always fun. You just need to rely on the skills that you work on when you practice."

Team Tazwood's Connor Watson brought an end to the tournament and his five-year Junior River Cup career with a spectacular finish in his individual match vs. Team Peoria's Nolan Eccles.

Down by two holes to Eccles heading into No. 15, Watson birdied the final four holes and won 2-up. 

Team Peoria had already secured the victory by then, but Watson did gain a measure of personal revenge by defeating Eccles. Watson and teammate Nick Unes lost 4 and 3 to Nick Herget and Eccles on Saturday during best ball play.

"I played solidly Saturday, but not great," Watson said. "So I made some adjustments."

Those adjustments resulted Sunday in a 15-foot birdie putt on No. 15, a 7-foot birdie putt on No. 16, a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 17 and two putts on No. 18 including a 30-foot eagle putt that that ended up 6 feet from the cup.

"It's always nice to finish a round with four birdies in a row," Watson said modesty.

"Connor is a quiet guy," Guenther said. "You'd never guess that he's a ferocious competitor."

This was the second straight win for Team Peoria, which trails Team Tazwood 17-9 in the Junior River Cup series. Team Peoria hadn't won two years in a row since 2003-04 and 2007-08.

The enormous amount of respect between the two teams and the players' love for the Junior River Cup were evident Sunday during the post-tournament award ceremony, held on the practice putting green at Lick Creek, and interviews later with the captains.

"There are no losers in this tournament. Each golfer is a winner because of how difficult it is to qualify to play in the Junior River Cup. Each golfer has to qualify each year," Guenther said. 

"This is my favorite high school golf event each season. Why? The kids love match play because it's something they don't normally do, and they get to play on the same team with guys they normally play against in high school matches. 

"I coach a small high school boys golf team (Midwest Central, since 1997). I know that golfers from small high schools like ours look forward to playing against guys from big schools in the Junior River Cup."

Guenther praised the River Cup Foundation's Fore Golf junior golf grants, first awarded in 2018. Grants totaling $12,000 were distributed this year to high schools and junior high schools and their golf teams, and the Pekin Park District. The 2025 competition featured golfers from nine different schools that received the Fore Golf Grant in 2025.  Since the inception of the grant in 2018, the River Cup Foundation has given over $52,000 back to junior golf programs in the Tri-County area.  

"The River Cup Foundation takes an immense amount of pride in what we have created in the Fore Golf Grant.  We believe it is our calling to help grow the game through junior golf in Central Illinois and are trying to accomplish that through the Fore Golf Grant.  Being able to give money to schools and organizations to help with purchasing shirts, golf bags, range balls, practice rounds, etc., is important to the game here locally," said River Cup Vice President Tyler Peterson. 

Young said Junior River Cup golfers "are the leaders of junior golf in our area," and there's a generation of young golfers in the area who are not only serious and focused on their games, but also have a deep desire to play in the Junior River Cup.

River Cup Foundation President Matt Fahel, after thanking the "golf gods" for only a 45-minute rain delay Saturday on a hot, muggy weekend that had a dire prediction of multiple showers, praised Young and Guenther for the time they put in each year as captains.

Here are the results of the 2025 Junior River Cup tournament:

SATURDAY (JULY 26)
BEST BALL MATCHES
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION
-- Paxten Heinold/Brady Schreurs (Tazwood) def. Jacob Shelby/Jack Westerberg 2-up.
-- Shane Cunningham/Will Snyder (Peoria) def. Jonathan Sombeck/Lee Bolliger 4 and 2.
HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION
-- Isaac Fitzgerald/Crew Fortin (Peoria) def. Jacob Anderson/Grady Burrell 1-up.
-- Court Bohanan/Collin Kemp (Tazwood) def. Carson Lott/Brayden Schleich 5 and 4.
-- Drew Gama/Jack Coulter (Peoria) def. Gavin Schreurs/Dominic Yocum 1-up.
-- Nolan Eccles/Nick Herget (Peoria) def. Connor Watson/Nicholas Unes 4 and 3.

SATURDAY SCORE: Peoria 4, Tazwood 2.

SUNDAY (JULY 27)
INDIVIDUAL MATCHES
JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION
-- Jacob Shelby (Peoria) def, Jonathan Sombeck 1-up.
-- Brady Schreurs (Tazwood) def. Jack Westerberg 1-up.
-- Lee Bolliger (Tazwood) def. Shane Cunningham 3 and 2.
-- Will Snyder (Peoria) def. Paxten Heinold 3 and 2.
HIGH SCHOOL DIVISION
-- Collin Kemp (Tazwood) def. Brayden Schleich 3 and 2.
-- Isaac Fitzgerald (Peoria) def. Jacob Anderson 1-up.
-- Grady Burrell (Tazwood) def. Carson Lott 3 and 2.
-- Crew Fortin (Peoria) def. Court Bohanan 6 and 4.
-- Drew Gama (Peoria) def. Dominic Yocum 2 and 1.
-- Gavin Schreurs (Tazwood) def. Nick Herget 2 and 1.
-- Jack Coulter (Peoria) def. Nicholas Unes 5 and 4.
-- Connor Watson (Tazwood) def. Nolan Eccles 2-up.

SUNDAY SCORE: Peoria 6, Tazwood 6.
FINAL SCORE: Peoria 10, Tazwood 8.