University of Indianapolis teammates Evan Stoker and Zach
Gurtner faced off this morning during the final round of the IGA Match Play
Championship at The Legends GC. Stoker
of Richmond, Ind. took an early lead, which he never relinquished. He defeated Gurtner 3 & 2.
“I played really solid all week,” Stoker said. “I didn’t
make many mistakes and I just tried to play within myself and never really
focused on score.”
Gurtner made back-to-back bogeys on holes 3 and 4 to give
Stoker an early 2-up lead. With a par to
Stoker’s bogey on the par-4, 5th, Gurtner got the match to within one. He followed up his win on the 5th
with a birdie on 6 to get the match back to All Square.
After putting himself right where he needed to be, Gurnter hit
his tee shot heavy on the par-3, 7th
and his ball found the pond just short of the green. He was forced to concede the hole and was
never able to catch Stoker from that point forward. Stoker made the turn with a 1-up lead, and
with a birdie on 10 he went 2-up in the match.
After two solid tee shots on the par-3, 13th,
both Gurtner and Stoker had realistic birdie opportunities. Gurtner was a little bit too aggressive with
his first putt and found himself with a six footer coming back. He failed to make par and Stoker’s lead grew
to three.
Stoker remained 3-up heading to the par-3, 16th,
where both players made par giving Stoker a 3 & 2 victory.
“This is my first IGA win and it feels great,” Stoker
said. “My hard work has paid off and
this definitely gives me a lot of confidence heading into my sophomore season.”
Although Gurtner was disappointed with today’s outcome, he
is still very proud of his play this week, and rightfully so.
“I honestly had no expectations coming into this event,”
said Gurtner of Bremen, Ind. “I obviously would have liked to win, but it still
feels great to finish second. I played
well all week and I have nothing to be disappointed about.”