With a dry, hot wind swirling Friday afternoon, getting a short game to work at Alvamar Golf Course was nearly impossible. Iron shots drifted uncontrollably. Putts zigged when they should have zagged.
So it was surprising that any tandem could enjoy the most success on the longest holes.
Quarterfinal Match Play results
Byron Shultz/Justin Strausbaugh def. David Rismiller/Jigger James, 4 and 3.
Andy Stweart/Jason DeBuhr def. Bryan Schwelzer/daryn Soldan, and 5
Chris Marshall/tony Winslow def. Don Cox/dan Mullen, 2 and 1
Tyler Chapman/Kerry Petricek def. Ty Cline/Cory Cooper, 1 up.
Semifinal Match Play results
deBuhr/Stewart def. Shultz/Strausbaugh, 4 and 3
Chapman/Petricek def. Marshall/Winslow, 3 and 3.
Andrew Stewart used his experience at Alvamar to conquer the par 5s Friday and charge into today’s final of the Kansas Golf Assn. Four-Ball Championship with his partner, Jason deBuhr. The Kansas University golfers will face Tyler Chapman and Kerry Petricek in a 36-hole championship at 7:30 a.m.
During the two rounds, Stewart and deBuhr needed only 27 holes to earn a championship berth. The pair defeated Bryan Schweizer and Daryn Soldan in a quarterfinal, 6 and 5. A big reason was Stewart’s brilliance. On the day, he had a pair of eagles and the rest birdies on the course’s par 5s. Stewart never shot as high as par on the long holes.
“He played those about as well as anyone ever could,” deBuhr said. “The conditions weren’t that great, and he just kept hitting big shots.”
Stewart’s big morning allowed the KU golfers to get out of the sun early and rest for the semifinal, a prerogative their seminfinal opponents, Byron Shultz and Justin Strausbaugh, did not have.
Granted, the two knew the opponents and the course well enough. Stewart knows both from junior golf, and the Kansas City entrants played Alvamar plenty of times as youths before heading to Tulane on golf scholarships. But Shultz and Strausbaugh had only 15 minutes to get ready for their semifinal. The KU duo won, 4 and 3. The Jayhawks won the first two holes and led comfortably throughout.
“I’d say it made a difference,” Strausbaugh said of the short layover after the quarterfinal. “Especially on these really hot days, it can help to get in the clubhouse and rest before you have to get back out there again.”
Perhaps the only disappointment for Stewart and deBuhr is they will not get to face one of their own for the title. Chris Marshall a Kansas teammate and Tony Winslow lost, 3 and 2, in the other semifinal. Neither Stewart or deBuhr knew anything about the competition they’ll face today.
deBuhr was more concerned with the morning tee-time than anything.
“Gosh, do we start that early?” deBuhr asked when told what time he would be starting. “We know we’ll have to be ready to play some good golf whoever we go against. But Andy and I haven’t been getting to the course real early yet.”