He did some admiring as well.

“That was one of the most clutch performances I’ve seen,” Trammell said. “I was starting to struggle down the stretch, and he had so much endurance. He really kept us in there.”

Woodland saved his best for last in the semifinals of the Kansas Four-Ball Championship, recording birdies on two of the final three holes to clinch a one-up victory against Barrett Martens and Trent Twaddle.

Woodland and Trammell will face Brandon Hermreck and Zechariah Potter in the final today.

Rachel Seymour

The Kansas University teammates persevered despite facing a deficit and also receiving some terrible luck on the back nine.

Down by one, Woodland had his potential match-tying putt on No. 14 lip all the way around the hole before curling out.

Two holes later, he was victimized for perhaps being too perfect with his shot. While trying to put an approach past the hole so he could spin it back, Woodland ended up hitting the pin, which left his ball in a worse spot at the front of the green.

“That was very frustrating,” Woodland said. “Nothing was really going right for us.”

Still trailing by one with two holes to play, Woodland made his own luck on the par-5 17th. With the pressure on, he calmly sank a 15-foot birdie putt, tying the match and giving his team some much-needed momentum.

“We were kind of out of it, and that pretty much was like we went one-up in reality,” Woodland said. “It felt like we were ahead going into the last hole.”

Trammell picked up the slack on 18. After Woodland put a shot in the water, Trammell finished off with a par 4 to send it to an extra hole.

“Luke saved us there,” Woodland said. “That match could have easily been over.”

Woodland did the rest.

Returning to No. 1, Woodland hit a long drive and found himself between clubs with an 85-yard approach shot.

Trammell told him to be aggressive. Woodland rolled it to within a foot of the hole.

Twaddle’s 30-foot birdie putt to tie came up just short.

Hermreck and Potter advanced to the finals by defeating Jason Schulte and Tyler Trout 1-up.

The Wichita State teammates entered the round having exceeded their own goals after only hoping to make it to the quarterfinals.

“We had no expectations,” Potter said. “We don’t want to look past the first day or the first round even.”

Hermreck made a birdie putt on 14 for a one-hole edge, and Potter chipped in a birdie on 16 to go 2-up with two to play.

Today’s 36-hole final will begin at 7:30 a.m. Woodland will attempt to win the championship for the third consecutive year.