Cape wins first match of 2025

The Cape golf team began its 2025 season with a flourish, defeating Smyrna 165-190 on the front nine at Rehoboth Beach Country Club.

Cape junior Kingston Davis won medalist honors with his four-over par 40. Sophomore Gabby Hamstead and senior Tyler Healy finished one stroke back at 41 each, with senior Eddie Ghabour completing the team scoring with his 43.

Freshman Jack Tunnell completed his first-ever varsity round with an eight-over 44, while junior Chad Hughey posted a 46.

Davis is a bit of a perfectionist. On the second hole, his approach shot landed 8 feet below the hole and stopped 2 inches from becoming an eagle on the par four. He was pleased with his tap-in birdie, but just after telling me about that shot, he mentioned a few chunked short shots that kept him from finishing in the 30s.

Hamstead was especially happy with her par on the first hole, a 338-yarder from the red tees. “I finally parred it when it counts,” she said. Not posting any double bogeys in her round was another encouraging sign of progress.

Healy played seven holes well but had trouble on the par five fourth and the challenging par four eighth holes.

“On the fourth, I was up by the green and then hit my chip shot too hard. There was a lot of back and forth after that and I made a [double bogey],” he said. “On the eighth, I pulled a shot into the water on the left side, and I’ve never done that before.”

Healy’s two doubles on those holes were offset a little with his birdie on the par three fifth hole.

Ghabour said he double bogeyed the first hole after a skulled chip. He also parred both par fives and the par four seventh.

Tunnell parred four holes but stumbled a bit with a triple bogey on the eighth and a double bogey on the ninth.

“I played well except for those two holes,” he said.

Hughey chalked up his round as coming from a small case of jitters.

“It was all nerves from being the first match. That should go away,” he said.

At a post-match gathering by the ninth hole, head coach Bill Geppert told his players how pleased he was with how they played their first match. He noted that the team’s 165 total score was only three strokes above the Vikings’ best performances in 2024.

“I guess we’ll keep that,” he said with a grin. “All we can do is be better.”

The Vikings traveled south March 27 to Bear Trap Dunes in Ocean View to play Indian River. On Friday, March 28, Cape faces off against Lake Forest at Jonathan’s Landing in Magnolia.

Armin Oehler

Plenty of widely known golf brands rented thousands of square feet of exhibition space at the 2025 PGA Show in Orlando, Fla., this January.

With more than 1,100 exhibitors, however, there were also dozens of smaller, less well-known golf companies. 

Sometimes their stuff was at least as impressive.

Armin Oehler comes from a long line of tanners, founded in 1823 near Stuttgart, Germany. The family’s leather goods became part of many different products made across Europe, especially in the luxury markets.

Several years ago, Oehler moved to America to create and install automobile leather interiors at the BMW factory in Greenville, S.C. More recently, the sixth-generation tanner expanded his family’s leather business to create high-end shoe wear, belts and other accessories. 

At the PGA Show, I spoke with his proud wife Sara.

“The leathers are coming from Germany with the manufacturing in Portugal, and there’s a wide range of footwear – everything from the traditional goodyear welt which is your classic men’s dress shoe,” she said. “That’s also the way our spiked golf shoes are made, so that’s how we’re bringing back a classic look.”

For the non-shoe enthusiasts among us, a goodyear welt is a strip of leather or other material that surrounds the shoe’s perimeter and is stitched between the upper and the sole. It creates a waterproof barrier, adds significant durability and makes re-soling possible.

Oehler’s goodyear-welted golf shoes are beautiful and unapologetically old-fashioned. The only real nod to modernity is that the spiked versions use SoftSpikes cleats, such as in the Chicago model. 

Other leather models are far more modern in appearance. One looks like a very fancy sneaker, with calf hide uppers and a Vibram spikeless sole. Armin said these models are great for both on- and off-course wear. 

The company’s new offerings for this year’s show include a patent-pending design for a stretch belt. Sara said, “The belts can be customized with your logo. We’ve been doing that with some of the clubs that come to some of the men’s shows. We started in on that foray and had that opportunity to meet with some of the club owners. We’ve done some designs for clubs such as Brentwood [in Los Angeles].” 

She also showed me a few of their leather valuables bags, which again can be impressed with club logos if desired.