June 25, 2009 - St. Joseph Country Club - Thursday's Match Play consisting of 32 contests started the day 90 minutes late as storms moved through the Northeast part of the state. But once play began at the 2009 Missouri Amateur Championship, the action was non-stop beginning with medalist Jace Long and ending with veteran, Don Walsworth.
Coming off a course record, 7 under par 64, Jace Long found himself in new territory. Not because he just shot 64, as he had done that before. Long was treading new water because he was experiencing Match Play for the very first time. Coupled with the fact that it's difficult to follow up a great round with another good one, Long had a lot to deal with on Thursday morning during his first round match.
Long's opponent, Van Pierce, was set to make it difficult on the stroke play medalist. Neither player maintained more than a 1up lead until Pierce made bogey on the par 3, 13th to give Long a 2 up advantage. Long carried the 2 up lead into the 17th when Pierce made birdie on the par 5 to push the match to the par 5, 18th hole. Under the gun in his first match play round, Long responded with a birdie on the 18th to advance to Friday of the Missouri Amateur Championship.
Match Play is often about which player can grab momentum at pivotal points in the contest. In match #4, it appeared Tyler Hillis was about to reverse a 3 down situation against Ted Moloney, playing the back nine at 2 under par to force extra holes. However, if Hillis owned the back nine, Moloney owned the front side and that was again the case as Moloney edged out a 1 up victory on the 19th hole.
Experience also factors into many Match Play outcomes. Tom Barry of St. Louis, brought plenty of that into his contest with Todd Obergoenner of Cape Girardeau. Obergoenner recently qualified for the USGA Public Links Championship at Clinton Hill GC in the St. Louis area and was carried positive momentum into this years state amateur championship. In the end, youth won out over experience as Obergoenner earned a spot to face Jason Schulte of Mission Hills, KS on Friday morning.
Justin Bardgett, the reigning Missouri Amateur Champion, enjoyed a 3 up lead heading into the difficult par 3, 16th hole against Josh Brady of Columbia, MO. Standing over a 3 foot par putt to end the match, Bardgett knew how important a putt it was, "I really wanted to make that 3 footer because anything can happen on 17 and 18," said the 2008 Missouri Amateur Champion after finishing his match. Bardgett immediately caught up with a close friend and roomate for this week, Ben Wood who was in a tight match against Jack Courington of Wichita, KS.
Wood would be the first to admit he was experiencing an up and down round on Thursday. After getting off to a slow start with bogeys on the first two holes, losing them both, Wood responded with birdies at 7 and 8 to square the match. Courington regained a 1 up lead with a birdie on the par 5, 10th hole before giving it back with a bogey on the par 3, 13th. The two players exchanged pars until Wood forced the action on the par 5, 17th. After a great drive found the right side of the fairway, Wood hit his second shot to within 20 feet to eventually take a 1 up lead into the 18th. Not backing down, Courington hit his second shot on the par 5, 18th hole to within 30 feet. Wood responded by hitting a spectacular shot from the left rough through trees to find the back of the putting surface. Putting first, Wood misjudged the speed, hitting his eagle attempt 12 feet past the hole. After Courington two putted for birdie, Wood calmly rolled in his 12 footer to halve the hole and win the match 1up. The reward for defeating Courington is a spot alongside his friend and reigning Missouri Amateur Champion, Justin Bardgett for their 9:03 tee time. The roommates this week will be facing each other in their second round match. Atleast no one will be adopting any wake up call antics to disrupt the other's sleep.
Every once in a while, the match play draw produces a perceived imbalance. Sure, the players qualify over two days of stroke play to earn their respective seeds in the match play bracket, but a number is just a number. Darren Lundgren posted a two day score of 151, earning a spot in the field of 64, but with a high seed. Lundgren comes into the championship as one of a select few to be considered favorites to advance deep into match play. But should Lundgren enjoy any level of success at this years championship, he will do so against some of the more experienced and decorated amateurs in the state. After defeating Kyle Marcolla, 4&2, Lundgren now faces Ryne Kloeppel. Should he win on Friday morning he will face St. Joseph's very own, Brad Nurski on Friday afternoon. The winner of that match, should it come to fruition, will likely be staring at a former Missouri Amateur Champion, Skip Berkmeyer on Saturday morning. And to take it one step further, the winner of that match will most likely see another St. Joseph native in the semi-final in the form of Harry Roberts or Brian Haskell. Both Haskell and Roberts are in the bottom part of the bracket and could see each other on Saturday morning as well.
Many stories are set up to be told and they continue to unfold on Friday morning at St. Joseph Country Club. Play resumes at 8am with 16 matches in the morning. The 16 winners will then tee it up on Friday afternoon. Follow all of the action on line at http://www.mogolf.org or follow on Twitter at http://www.golfersnetworkusa.com/site/gnusa.
