KU’s Ward advances at Amateur

By Chris Wristen     Jul 23, 2004

Mike Yoder/Journal-World Photos
Kansas University golfer Pete Krsnich, Wichita, sinks a birdie putt on hole No. 1 during the Kansas Amateur. Krsnich defaeted Jordan Roberts, 1 up, Thursday at Shadow Glen Golf Course in Olathe to advance to today's third round.

? After winning two tournament titles in June, Kansas University senior golfer Kevin Ward knows he’s a marked man at the Kansas Amateur Match Play Championship.

Ward, winner of the Kansas Golf Assn. Fourball Championship and Missouri Amateur title, has been the primary target of golfers at the Kansas Amateur. He survived his greatest scare of the summer Thursday afternoon in the second round of match play at Shadow Glen Golf Club when he needed two playoff holes to defeat former Jayhawk Alan Stearns.

Ward boasted a four-hole advantage with five holes remaining before the unthinkable happened. Putts that rolled so smoothly and drives that went so straight during the first 13 holes suddenly went haywire.

Ward bogeyed four of the last five holes, while Stearns, a Santa Ana, Calif., resident who played at KU from 1994 to 1996, kept his cool and tied the match when he birdied No. 18 and forced a playoff.

“It was more Kevin giving me opportunities to stay in it,” said Stearns, an Academic All-American in 1996. “I was really just trying to keep the ball in play and hoping good things would happen. It was good to be playing the extra holes.”

KU's Tyler Docking, Overland Park, approaches a putt during the Kansas Amateur. Docking advanced to today's third round with a 2 and 1 victory Thursday over Matt Van Cleave.

Ward seemed poised to end the match on the first playoff hole, but Stearns saved par when he read the green’s steep slant perfectly and drained an 18-foot putt.

Ward ended the match on the next hole with an even more remarkable shot. Trapped in the rough between two sand bunkers and with his ball buried in the shaggy grass, Ward grabbed his wedge.

“The ball was just buried,” Ward said. “And I just took a hack at it. I’ve worked on that shot so much that I know how to hit it.”

His chip shot eluded a sand trap, landed softly on the fringe and crept its way across the green within three feet of the hole. Game over.

“That shot … I was thinking that could go over the green, it could land in the bunker or it could be perfect,” Stearns said of Ward’s chip. “Those were his three options, and he hit it absolutely perfect.

“But Kevin’s been playing just awesome this summer. I was fortunate just to be around him today. He’s playing great.”

Ward wasn’t as impressed, however.

After struggling with a 75 during stroke play Tuesday, he responded with a sizzling 68 Wednesday. He said Thursday felt like another slump in many ways, but he was holding out hope that his precise putts and drives would return today when he tries to advance through today’s third-round and quarterfinal matches to reach Saturday’s semifinals.

“I just want to go out here and play well, and if I play well it’s going to be tough to beat me,” Ward said. “But I can’t afford to make mistakes like I did today. Hopefully I’ll get hot again tomorrow and see what I can do from there.”

Six of the 16 remaining golfers are current or former Jayhawks. Ward will tee off at 8:30 a.m. today in the third round against Steve Newman of Wichita. KU sophomore Tyler Docking, junior Pete Krsnich and alumni Tyler Shelton, John Hess and Fred Rowland also advanced.

Lawrence resident Mark Bruder was eliminated by Derek Smith of Elk City, 5 and 4, in the second round.

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