Wolf Creek G.C. — The course and weather conditions could not be better for the 2014 Kansas City Masters. The wind was so still, conversations carried hundreds of yards and through the majestic oaks surrounding Wolf Creek Golf Club. As the final round began, three men shared the lead at two under par setting the stage for a shootout to complete the 2014 KCGA season.
A chaotic leaderboard changed throughout the final round as players jockeyed for position heading into the back nine. With nine holes remaining a half dozen players had a chance to take home the final crystal of the year. It looked like Steve Groom and Joseph Winslow in the final pairing were going to duke it out over the home stretch, but both players found trouble early on the back nine. A double bogey for Groom on ten and back to back bogeys on eleven and twelve put both players in black numbers for the first time.
In the group ahead, Mark Terranova quietly moved up the leaderboard after making a birdie on the par four thirteenth. Terranova looked like he would drop a stroke at the par three fifteenth hole after a poor approach, but after a ten foot slider and a monster fist pump he escaped with par. Terranova then birdied to take the outright lead on seventeen at even par.
Heading to eighteen, it looked like it would take at least even par to fend off the challengers. After a well placed tee shot, Terranova fired his approach to the backstop behind the front hole location on number eighteen. There was a nervous hesitation as it looked like the ball might stop precariously on the slope, which would have left a nearly impossible two putt, but gravity prevailed and the ball gently drifted back to the hole. Terranova holed the putt for good measure and capped the victory finishing as the only player under par for the thirty-six hole championship.
“I am very happy for Mark,” said Matt Williams, KCGA Executive Director. “He has been close so many times in our events and he finally closed it out. His back-nine today was some of the highest quality golf I have seen this year.”
While Groom finished in second, he took home low Senior honors and continues to establish himself as one of the great senior players in the region.
The KCGA would like to thank the staff of Wolf Creek Golf Club for hosting the event.
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