Three spots for six players. Sudden death for those who send one drive wayward or one chip too far. With pressure like that, the Golf Club at Creekmoor in Raymore might as well have been Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif.
Only, it wasn’t. That golfer’s paradise, the site of this year’s U.S. Open, was still thousands of miles away as Chad Judd of Olathe; Dalton Owens of Mount Vernon, Mo.; Gary Woodland of Topeka; Jace Long of Dixon, Mo.; Peter Malnati of Dandridge, Tenn.; and Will Hogan of Ozark, Mo., walked to the first playoff tee.
“Everyone is nervous, everyone is shaking, everyone’s heart is going to be beating,” Owens said.
Brad Nurski of St. Joseph had already locked up a spot at the sectional qualifying on June 2 in Augusta, Mo., with a 3-under-par 69. So had Brice Garrett of Gallatin, Mo., and Steve Groom of Raytown, who both shot even-par 72. But for the six who shot 1-over 73, the playoff would determine who advanced.
At the first playoff hole, the par-4 No. 10, the former Kansas golfer Woodland fired his drive into the far right rough and bogeyed. Judd, a former K-State golfer, missed a 2-foot par putt and also bogeyed. Both players were eliminated after the four others got up and down for par.
At the par-4 11th, Hogan, a freshman at Missouri, birdied and took the fourth spot in the sectional. He couldn’t help but look ahead.
“It would be a dream to play in the U.S. Open,” Hogan said. “Beyond a dream.”
Owens, a sophomore at Arkansas, made par, joining Hogan in the sectional. One spot was left, and Long, a high school senior who has signed with MU, had a 2-footer for par to clinch it. He missed. Malnati, who had bogeyed the hole, had new life.
It was on to the third playoff hole, the par-4 15th. At this point, you had to figure that Malnati, Long’s future teammate at MU, had the advantage. On Monday and Tuesday, Long had expended plenty of energy winning the Missouri Class 2 state golf tournament. But it turned out that Long had one great shot left in his tank. He chipped in for birdie with a sand wedge from 25 feet, clinching the sixth spot.
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