Member team begins Kaiser Cup title defense with 3.5-1.5 lead after day one.

FLORENCE, IN (April 4, 2022) – 160 days since the final Kentucky PGA event of 2021, the Section resumed competition on Monday with the opening day of the 2022 season from Belterra Golf Club in Florence, Indiana. The Kaiser Cup supported by Levelwear kick-started the season with twenty of the top players from last season invited to play in this Ryder Cup-style competition. Ten of those players represent the Member team while the other half make up the Assistant/Associate team.

The Members are seeking their fourth consecutive victory in the event, and they got off to a good start during Monday’s four-ball matches. There were five of these matches contested over the course of 18 holes, beginning with last year’s ROLEX Larry Gilbert Player of the Year Andrew Stephens, and the runner-up to him, Mitchell Moore, combining for a smooth victory in match one. Together, two of the Section’s top players defeated Bobby Newberry and Daniel Iceman III 5&4.

In match two, a sixty-foot birdie putt on the 15^th hole from Josh Griffin put him and Nick Johnston 2 UP, making the Assistant/Associate team look poised to even the overall score. Tom Walters and Sara Stephens answered the challenge, however, as two birdies from Walters on the 16^th and 18^th holes allowed the Members to salvage a TIE out of the match.

Match four was the next to wrap up, and this time it did result in the Assistants/Associates getting their first full point. Matthew McCrady and John Vidal did so by topping Carson Stone and Aaron McDowell 3&2. With it, the total score was knotted up at 1.5 points for each team.

But each point from that point on went the way of the Member team, starting with David Huffman and Jesse Massie winning 2&1. They took down Austin Burke and Matthew Bloom, and shortly thereafter Andrew Lardner and Robert Costello notched another point in the Members’ favor in the day’s anchor match. Lardner and Costello went to the final hole 1 UP and kept that margin over Jacob Schakat and Eric Voss. As a result, it puts the Members up 3.5 to 1.5 with ten singles matches on Tuesday scheduled to conclude the competition.

By virtue of the Members being the defending champions, they need 7.5 points to retain the Kaiser Cup while the Assistant/Associate team will need 8 points to reclaim the trophy for the first time since 2017. The journey to reach those marks on Tuesday will begin at 9:00 a.m. EDT where the first of ten points will be up for grabs. 

Click here to view Monday’s four-ball results

Click here to view Tuesday’s tee times

Click here to view the photo gallery

About the Kentucky PGA:
The Kentucky PGA Section (KPGA) is one of forty-one Sections across the country representing the PGA of America and its Members. It is also one of three organizations encompassed within Golf House Kentucky, which also includes the Kentucky Golf Association (KGA) and Kentucky Golf Foundation (KGF). The KPGA contains more than 275 Members and more than 30 Associates working in various roles across Kentucky; all of whom share the goal of bettering the game and its players. The KPGA and its Members assist with the organization of many chief growth-of-the-game initiatives including PGA HOPE and PGA Jr. League among others. The Section also operates more than thirty tournaments throughout the golf season, including the Kentucky Open and qualifiers for the Barbasol Championship.

Media Contact:
Ethan Fisher, PGA | Golf House Kentucky | efisher@kygolf.org | (502) 792-9703