LOUISVILLE, KY (July 16, 2020) – The gravity of one of Kentucky golf’s biggest tournaments was truly felt on Thursday during the third day of the State Match Play Championships. While the morning began with fourteen total players, several hours later the tournament had crowned two champions and two other hopefuls remain in pursuit of their division’s trophy.

Those two who still have golf to play are (1) Joshua Rhodes and (10) Jay Kirchdorfer. These two players will return at Nevel Meade tomorrow morning for their championship match in the Open Division which will begin at 7:45 a.m. EDT. Rhodes would not be in the spot he currently finds himself if not for making a thirty-foot eagle putt on the 18^th hole to force extra holes versus (8) Chase Landrum in his quarterfinal match. With his back against the wall, Rhodes jarred the putt and would drain another long-range putt on the first hole of sudden death to move on to the semifinals where he played (20) Rob Crockett and defeated him 3&2. Kirchdorfer’s day was slightly less eventful as he knocked off (2) C.J Jones in the morning with a 4&3 victory which set up a match against University of Louisville’s Trevor Johnson for the University of Kentucky golfer. The Wildcat prevailed on this occasion as Kirchdorfer won 2&1 to advance to Friday’s match against Rhodes.

While their journeys are still yet to be decided, (3) Scott Ray walked away a champion once again this season after claiming the Senior Division title over (13) Tom Campbell. It was a 2&1 win for Ray over Campbell which was preceded by a decisive 7&5 win in the morning against (10) Steve Noland. His win today goes alongside the victory he claimed at the Kentucky Senior Team Championship in June.

“I made birdie on three of the first five holes against Tom this afternoon to go 3 UP and it’s hard to battle back from that deficit,” Ray said following the round. “I putted much better today than I had the whole week and that was from actually putting a new putter in the bag this morning. I had hit my driver great during the tournament, but I just hadn’t been getting many putts to fall until today. I wasn’t putting worth a nickel to start the event and fortunately I was able to work around it to make it to this point.”

Only one match took place on Thursday in the Senior Net Division which (3) David Biddle won against (8) Jerry Dowdy 3&2.

“I got lucky with the putter this week,” Biddle stated. “I holed some lengthy putts during the first few matches but today was much more consistent. I didn’t make many mistakes which I had to do since I was up against a good opponent, but we had a great morning to play a great match on a great golf course.”

For tomorrow’s championship match in the Open Division, Golf House Kentucky will have complete coverage on its Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages. Should the match reach the 18^th hole or require any extra holes, a live video will be available to watch on Facebook to view the match’s conclusion.

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