Junior Match Play at John Daly's Murder Rock

By Ceanne Kressig

The 2010 Junior Match Play Championship is being held at John Daly's Murder Rock Golf Course this week. John Daly's Murder Rock is one of Branson's newest golf courses, established in 2007. This new course gets its unique name from the Civil War where it was known as the spot where bushwhacker Alfred Bolin and his gang were known to ambush travelers.

The course is a great set up for match play. Murder Rock has quick greens with subtle breaks. Strategy is key in match play especially with the fairways are lined with tall native grass.

At this new course the field was faced with high winds during medal play early on Wednesday morning, making the cut unpredictable. At the close of day 1 the cut to 32 players was settled with scores 87 and lower to advance to match play. The medalist went to Teddy Jones of Wildwood with a solid 75, giving him the first seed by one stroke.

The players found Thursday to have few winds but harder pin placements. Morning matches showed true to there seed with very few upsets. However our medalist, Teddy Jones had to stay on his game to win his match. Number one seed Teddy Jones was paired against number 32 seed Dustin Johnson. Johnson was not letting his last seed tell his round. After nine Johnson was up 1 but only to finalize the match with stroke medalist Jones win 4 & 2. One of the youngest players in the match play tournament, Cameron Elmore, made a strong debut during match play portion. He faced Ben Hogan early on Thursday morning. As Hogan saw himself three down at the turn he scored well on the back nine pushing the match all square at 18 and then to extra holes. Elmore did not give up. Elmore took the nineteenth hole to finalize the match 1 up, defeating Hogan. Grant McNeley, number two seed had no trouble in his match, winning 8 & 6. Jared Cohen and Cy Moritz also ended their matches early by finishing 7 & 6.

Cy Moritz did not find his afternoon match against Cameron Elmore quite as easy. The two battled back and forth until the end. The match went to extra holes. Again it only took Elmore one hole to end the match against Moritz. After Elmore completing two matches on the number one hole it seems he has it down pat. The rest of the round of 16 matches was not near as close. Many finished 3 & 2 and 5 & 3.

With seven of the eight top seeds left in the quarterfinals it is anyone's championship. As the field is narrowed, great golf shines at a fantastic venue.