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Championship Finals in Kentucky Match Play Set
OWENSBORO, KY (July 20, 2021) – Championship Wednesday in the Kentucky Match Play Championships is set following the completion of the tournament’s quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Tuesday. Eight golfers from both the Open Division and the Senior Division arrived at The Country Club of Owensboro in the morning, but by the end of the afternoon, only two players from each bracket were left standing. Andy Roberts and Josh Rhodes have made it to the Open Division’s championship match, while Scott Ray and David Horning are the last men standing in the Senior Division.
Andy Roberts, a member at The Country Club of Owensboro, got his day started with a 4&2 quarterfinals victory over Kevin Waldie, who entered the match play portion of the event as the 1 seed. Following that victory, Roberts was efficient with his work in the semifinals where he eliminated George Chandler 6&4. The State Match Play is one of the few premier golf tournaments in Kentucky Roberts has not yet collected, as he is a past champion of the Kentucky Open, Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Amateur and Clark’s Pump-N-Shop Kentucky Mid-Am among other tournaments. Now, he has the opportunity to add another championship to his resume at his home facility.
Josh Rhodes finds himself in the title match of this tournament for the second straight year. Last year, Jay Kirchdorfer topped him at Nevel Meade Golf Club in a match that came down to the final hole. This time around, he will look to finish one position higher when he battles Roberts on Wednesday. For a portion of time on Wednesday morning, Rhodes looked to be in trouble during his quarterfinal match against Denver Haddix as he trailed heading into the 18th hole. But a bogey from Haddix to Rhodes’ par forced extra holes, with a birdie from Rhodes on the 19th securing him a spot in the semifinals. He then faced Hunter York where Rhodes held the upper-hand for a majority of that match, leading to a 3&2 victory.
Scott Ray, the defending champion of the Senior Division, will seek to make it two consecutive years he wins this tournament and his third State Match Play title in four years having also won in 2018. He did not need to venture past the 14th hole at all on Tuesday as he first topped Max Marley 5&4 in the quarterfinals and came back a few hours later to beat P.J. McDougal 6&4 in the semifinals. Being the beneficiary of a bye in the stroke play qualifier as the reigning champion and having won his Round of 16 match 7&5 on Monday, Ray is yet to play holes 15-18 this week.
His opponent will be David Horning who authored the comeback of the tournament thus far in his semifinal match against Tom Campbell. On the 15th, Horning made a bogey to Campbell’s par which put him 2 DOWN with three holes to play. With the odds against him, he proceeded to make birdie on the 16th, came two feet from jarring it off the tee on the par-three 17th which led to another birdie, and then matched Campbell with pars on the 18th leading to extra holes. Horning then made his third birdie in four holes while Campbell made par, securing Horning a place in the finals. Had Campbell won, it would have been the second consecutive year the Senior Division’s championship match featured Ray and Campbell, but Horning’s heroics instead places him against Ray with the trophy on the line.
The match between Ray and Horning will begin play on Wednesday, which will start at 8:00 a.m. CDT. Roberts and Rhodes will then tee off at 8:10 a.m. Golf House Kentucky will have full coverage of the championship matches on its Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. If either match reaches the 18th hole, the finish will be live-streamed on Facebook.
