Yesterday, Albany’s Goride Rees chipped in for eagle to win
his match on the 21st hole against opponent Mike Bell of Indianapolis,
never giving up hope. Today was a similar story. Rees faced Sam Till of Fort Wayne during the
finals of the IGA Senior Match Play Championship at Hillview CC and although he
was down early, he fought until the very end for a 2 & 1 victory.
“I shot 73 and barely got into match play earlier this week,”
Rees said. “This group of men has so
many talented players that just qualifying for match play was difficult this
year. Once I got in to the top 16, I
just remained calm and trusted my game.”
Till grabbed his first lead of the day during the final
match on the par-5, 2nd , but Rees capitalized on Till’s poor pitch shot on
hole three to get the match back to All Square.
After hitting his approach shot in the bunker on the par-4, 5th
Rees saw himself down in the match for a second time. Till went on to make a birdie on the par-5, 7th
to go 2-up, but then Rees fought back with back-to-back birdies on holes 8 and
9, putting himself right back in the match.
On the difficult par-4, 13th Till failed to hit
the green in regulation and made bogey, giving Rees his first lead of the day. He went on to make a twenty footer for birdie
on 14, but Till responded with a clutch birdie putt of his own. Rees again responded with another converted birdie
putt on 15 and headed to the par-4, 16th with a 2-up lead.
“I really never felt like I knew I would win,” Rees
said. “Till made such a great comeback
against Carter this morning that I knew he was capable of doing that
again. After he missed his birdie putt
on 16, I knew I just had to hit a good tee shot on 17 and remain calm.”
Rees headed to 17 dorme with Till. After hitting solid drives, and second shots,
both players gave themselves short chances for birdie. Rees putted first sinking his putt right in
the center of the hole for his third IGA victory.
“My wedge game and my putting were really good today,” Rees
said. “I have learned a lot from players
like Sam Till and Terry Werner who both play aggressively. I tried to stay aggressive today and it
worked in my favor.”
Through 17 holes, Rees was 6-under-par with birdies coming
on holes 8, 9, 11, 14, 15, and 17.
“I have been playing really well this week and I knew if I
played how I did today that I couldn’t even be mad if I didn’t win,” Rees
said. “I have been in this position before
and let it slip away from me. It means a
lot to me that I was able to fight back and come out on top this week. You don’t get many chances to play against
players as good as Sam Till and I am just happy to have had the opportunity to
play against him.”