The weather delay created from Wednesday’s storms advantageously changed the momentum for the eventual 53rd Heart of America champions.
Thursday morning saw two teams punch their tickets for the 18-hole, normally 36, match-play championship.
The team of Jackson Foth and Josh Weems, arguably one of the greatest pair of Heart of America teammates and defending champions, out-dueled the Kansas City Match-Play champion Phil Bartimus and his teammate Michael Greene, who claimed the fifth seed, by a score of 2 and 1 to secure their spot in the championship round.
Foth and Weems, the tournament’s second-overall seed, made their third appearance in as many years in the final round of play in the historic match-play tournament.
Weems continued his personal streak of four consecutive championship appearances.
However, awaiting the three-time finalists were ninth-seeded Matt Barry and Colby Yates, a pair of teammates who also team up together during the collegiate season at University of Missouri-Saint Louis.
Barry and Yates saw an early 2 up lead erased by fifth-seeded semifinalists Cameron and Wiltse and Evan Shartzer, who will be teammates this fall at the University of Missouri-Kansas City, but rallied on No. 11 to eventually win 4 and 3.
The Foth and Weems combination jumped out to an early 1 up lead after a birdie on No. 3, but Barry and Yates answered with a birdie on No. 6 and 7 to turn the match in the champions favor.
The pair added an additional birdie on No. 11 to take a 2 up lead, which would stand pat until Foth and Weems tallied a birdie on No. 14 to cut the lead to 1 up.
Barry and Yates delivered the final blow of the match, birdieing No. 16, which eventually sealed a 2 and 1 victory over Foth and Weems.
The open division only needed 17 holes to decide the fate of the championship, the senior division needed every bit of all 18 holes.
The championship match featured the top-seeds Don Kuehn and Greg Loteckie, against third-seeded Andy Smith and Karl Elbrecht.
Kuehn and Loteckie defeated
The match never swung in either direction beyond a two-hole lead by Kuehn and Loteckie before Smith and Elbrecht evened the match at all square on No. 17 with a chip-in from in front of the green and well below the hole from Smith.
However, Kuehn took control of the match by rolling in a 20-foot birdie putt from the back fringe.
The putt sealed the senior championship for Loteckie and Kuehn.
View the full results from the week’s Heart of America championship, here.