Poplar Bluff's Wiseman, Jackson's Silliman earn all-state honors at Class 5 golf tournament

SEDALIA, Mo. — Alex Wiseman added his name to the list of Poplar Bluff golfers to crack the top-10 at the MSHSAA state championships Tuesday while Jackson’s Carsen Silliman earned all-state honors after a pair of close calls as an underclassmen.

“It’s good to finish all-state, that’s great,” said Silliman, who tied for 11th at 5-over-par 145 in the Class 5 tournament at Sedalia Country Club.

“I would have wanted to win but it’s hard to win in golf. It was good to get recognition for a good season that I had.”

Wiseman tied for seventh at 4-over 144, following his 1-under first round.

“I left a lot of putts right in front of the hole that I could have dropped,” Wiseman said.

Only three players in the field finished the two-day tournament even-par or better.

Rylan Lee of Pembroke Hill earned medalist honors at 7-under 133, beating Rockhurst’s Liam Coughlin by six shots. Rockhurst’s Otto Zinn tied his teammate for second while St. Joseph Central’s Daniel Love was fourth at even-par 140.

Poplar Bluff senior Jack Pierce was a stroke better Tuesday than his first round to finish at 23-over 163, tying for 67th.

“I had fun and that was my goal,” Pierce said. “I wanted to play well. I wasn’t super mad that I didn’t, but I wanted to have fun.”

Wiseman became Poplar Bluff’s 21st player to finish in the top-10 and sixth since 2000.

Wiseman played in the second-to-last group after his first-round 69 put him two strokes behind Lee’s low round.

Wiseman opened with seven straight pars to remain at 1-under before running into trouble on the same hole as the first round.

His tee shot on the 396-yard, par-4 eighth found water to the right Monday and missed left Tuesday, hitting it out of bounds. Just as in the first round, when he saved bogey, Wiseman said his approach shot from the fairway landed within 20 feet for another bogey save Tuesday.

Wiseman then birdied the next hole, also for a second straight day, to make the turn at 1-under. A bogey on the par-4 11th put him even for the tournament but he finished with bogeys on four of his final five holes.

“I was hitting it OK,” Wiseman said. “My ball striking was off and my putting, I was leaving everything (short). My speed was off, a little bit slow.”

Silliman started the day tied for 27th after a 5-over 75 during a wet first round.

Just like Wiseman, Silliman started with seven straight pars before a bogey on No. 8 for the second straight day. He followed it with a birdie on the par-5 9th by reaching the green in two and also had birdies on the par-4 13th and the par-5 18th.

“The first day I played bad on the par-5s, that’s kind of what got me, but the second day I took advantage of it,” said Silliman, who had 12 pars and three bogeys in the second round.

Silliman tied for 17th at state as a freshmen, helping Jackson place fourth as a team. The following year when Jackson won the state title as a team he tied for 22nd.

After the COVID-19 pandemic shut down the spring season last year, Silliman returned to the state tournament as an individual. He said it was different this year without having teammates in the tournament.

Jackson won the SEMO Conference Tournament led by Silliman’s state-record round of 9-under-par to earn medalist honors. He finished one shot behind the district medalist, tying for second at 3-over-par while Jackson finished eighth as a team

“I enjoyed playing with my teammates,” Silliman added.

Pierce’s second round featured 11 pars, three more than Monday, and six bogeys. His tee shot on the par-4 sixth, his 15th hole, landed out of bounds and he ended up with a nine.

“That hole didn’t help, but it wasn’t a good day,” Pierce said. “I didn’t play very well.”

His round ended with consecutive pars to cap a season when he tied for seventh in the district and had three more top-10 showings, including a runner-up finish at the Poplar Bluff Invitational, averaging 5.2 strokes over par.

Pierce was the lone senior on a team that finished second in the conference and fourth in the district after winning four of the first five tournaments.