This weekend at Swope Memorial, the KCGA crowned three more champions in 2019. The Senior and Junior Match Play Championship were played in conjunction with each other and all began with an 18-hole, stroke-play qualifying round to determine the top 16 players in each division to move on to match play that afternoon.
In the Senior division, Ed Brown finished with the low qualifying round with a four-under, 68, in a round that featured 7 birdies and three bogeys to capture the first seed heading in to match play. Steve Groom finished as the 2 seed with a two-under, 70. The top 16 faced off Friday afternoon and the lower seed took 5 out of the 8 matches. Upsets included David Rismiller (12) over John Scarsella (5) and Dennis Keglovits (14) over Kevin Handlan (3). The 1 & 2 seed, Brown and Groom, both moved on with convincing wins.
For the Quarterfinal round, the lower seed took all 4 matches, including the 1 and 2 seed. Mark Addington (4) took down David Rismiller 5 and 4 to advance to the semifinals. Groom defeated Mike Steiert 2 and 1 while Brown narrowly advanced with a 24 hole win over Ritch Nigh. The semifinal round took place Saturday afternoon featuring matches between Ed Brown (1) vs Mark Addington (4) and Steve Groom (2) vs Brian Schorgl (11).
Ed Brown’s run came to an end when his meeting with Addington ended in a 3 & 2 defeat. Addington got out to a hot start winning the first four holes and followed it up with a win on Hole #7 to go 5 up over Brown. Brown fought back winning Holes 8, 10, and 13 to cut the lead to 2 up. Addington won Hole 14 to go 3 up with four to go and Brown was unable to win Hole 16 which ultimately sealed the deal. The 2 seed, Groom, would also fail to make the final match after a 3 & 2 defeat to Brian Schorgl. It was a back and forth match the whole way as Groom and Schorgl traded holes 3, 6, 8, and 9. On the back nine, Schorgl started off quick, winning Hole 10 with a birdie and kept the momentum going with a win on Hole 14 & 15 to go 3 up over Groom heading in to Hole 16. With Groom unable to win Hole 16, Schorgl advanced to the finals on Sunday with a 3 & 2 win.
In the Senior final, Addington again worked quickly, winning Holes 1 & 2 and following it up with a win on Hole 7. Schorgl fought back with a birdie on Hole 10, but Addington would cancel it out with a win on Hole 11 to keep his 3 up lead. Addington’s great play continued throughout the back nine and sealed his win with a win on Hole 14 to go 4 up with 4 holes remaining. Schorgl could not win Hole 15 and the winner was decided. Mark Addington played great all weekend, something the KCGA is used to by now, to become the 2019 KC Senior Match Play Champion!
In our Junior Match Play, stroke-play qualifying turned some really low scores. In the girls division, Caroline Setter earned the one seed with a four-over, 76, followed by Averi Mickelson (77), Jaclyn Koziol (78), and Maggie King/Victoria Klausner (79). In the boys division, Tanner Collins turned in the low round of qualifying with a great four-under 68, followed by Cole Elling/Calvin Dillon (69), and a four way tie for fourth between Michael Bessenbacher, Justin Wingerter, Davis Cooper, and Blake Mullen (71).
In the Boys Round of 16, the low seed took five out of the eight matches. 1 seed Tanner Collins cruised to victory over Connor Hanrahan (16) with a 3 & 2 victory. Daniel Duffin (8) took out Griffin Brassell (9) with a 5 & 3 win. Justin Wingerter (5) defeated Liam Coughlin (12) after a 2 & 1 win and Calvin Dillon (2) cruised past Kobe Jenkins (15) with a 4 & 3 victory.
Daniel Duffin upset Tanner Collins (1) in the Quarterfinal round Friday morning, 3 & 2. Wingerter stayed hot and defeated John Gardner (13), 2 & 1. Ian McCrary (14) upset Blake Mullen (6) after a 5 & 4 win and Calvin Dillon cruised by Zach Molzer (10), 3 & 2, to set up a great semifinal match up. Friday afternoon, the semifinal round began between Daniel Duffin (8) vs Justin Wingerter (5) and Calvin Dillon (2) vs Ian McCrary (14). Ian McCrary’s underdog run would come to an end thanks to Calvin Dillon, who would advance to the final match after a narrow 3 & 1 victory. Wingerter took care of Duffin handily with a 5 & 4 to punch his ticket to the Boys Junior Match Play finals against Dillon.
Sunday morning, the final round began with a back and forth opening nine. Dillon would find himself 2 up after 3 holes, only to lose the lead over Hole 4 & 5. Another quick bounce back for Dillon would increase his lead again to 2 up after winning Holes 6 & 7. Wingerter fought back with a par on Hole 9 to decrease the lead to 1 up. The back side was a little more one sided as Dillon won Hole 11 and 12 after Wingerter struggled a bit. Justin battled with a win on Hole 13 with a clutch par save, but Dillon would grab another hole with 15. Dillon was able to hold off Wingerter on the par-3, Hole 16 to claim his 2019 Boys Match Play Champion title!
In the Girls Round of 16, the low seed only took 3 out of the 8 matches. 1 seed Caroline Setter was victorious over Kayla Kimbley, 4 & 2. Victoria Klausner (4) would also handle business over Sam Maceli (13), 3 & 1. Averi Mickelson also narrowly took her first round match over Lauren Muller (15), 1 up. Upsets included Lia Johnson (11) over Vera Bohning (6), 3 & 1, Hope Robinett (12) over Maggie King (5), 1 up, and Hanna Robinett (14) over Jaclyn Koziol (3), 2 & 1.
In the Saturday morning quarterfinals, Caroline Setter (1) would see her match play run end after losing to Libby Green (9), 5 & 4. Averi Mickelson (2) also saw her run end with a 3 & 2 defeat to the 10 seed, Abby Howard. Lia Johnson (11) advanced to the semifinal round after beating Hanna Robinett, 6 & 5. Her sister, Hope, would also lose to Victoria Klausner in a close 2 & 1 match. Saturday’s semifinal round looked like this: Libby Green (9) vs Victoria Klausner (4) and Abby Howard (10) vs Lia Johnson (11).
Both semifinal matches were back and forth contests. Lia Johnson after being two up through two holes, would trade holes with Howard on 3, 4, and 5 to see her lead diminish to 1 up after 5. Johnson saw some momentum shift her way after winning Holes 8, 9 and 10 to go 4 up over Howard. Howard tried to gain ground on Johnson with a win on Hole 11, but after halving the next three holes and losing Hole 15, Johnson punched her ticket to the finals. In the second semifinal, Klausner saw herself down 1 after Hole 6, but quickly grabbed Holes 7-11 to go 3 up over Green. Green would earn Holes 11 & 12, but Klausner bounced back with a win on Hole 13 to stay 2 up. Klausner would win Holes 15 & 16 with two pars to defeat Green 4 and 2 and face Johnson in the Sunday final.
The Sunday Girls final would prove to be the closest of three. Klausner and Johnson traded Holes 3 through 6 and would head in to Hole 9, all square. Klausner struggled a little bit and left the door open for Johnson to grab Holes 9-11 and go 3 up. Klausner proved to be a true competitor as she battled throughout the back nine and took three out of the next four holes to get the match to all square heading in to Hole 16. With a par on 16, Johnson would again go 1 up over Klausner with two holes to play. With a great second shot on Hole 17, Klausner found herself putting for birdie to win the hole and head to 18, all square. She ended up with a par, but was still good enough to win the hole and even the match. Johnson needed a clutch par save on the 18th green to tie the hole and continue the match to extra holes. Sinking a 10 footer, Johnson did just that. Klausner and Johnson fought for three more holes (21st hole) to decide the 2019 Girls Match Play Champion. With a par on Hole 3, the 21st hole of the match, Johnson would take the crown over a hard fought match by Victoria Klausner.
It was a great weekend with all three events going on together. We hope the entire field had a great time this weekend battling it out in match play. Thank you to Swope Memorial for hosting another great event. Congratulations to our match play champions: Mark Addington, Calvin Dillon, and Lia Johnson!
