Valparaiso’s Dave Vlasic was a force to be reckoned
with this week at the IGA Senior Match Play Championship held at Delaware
CC. Vlasic began the week by firing a
4-over-par 74 and was seeded 13th heading into match play, but his
high seed had no effect on his play for the remainder of the event. Vlasic knocked out players one-by-one and
advanced to the Championship Match this afternoon where he faced Richmond’s
Skip Runnels.
“I played pretty good all week,” Vlasic said. “I played Steve Behrman in my first match,
and at that point I wasn’t playing all that well, but I got through that match
and played consistent from there on. I
drove the ball well and made some crucial putts.”
Vlasic took an early 2-up lead after the first two
holes of the match against Runnels and never looked back. It was not until the par 5, 15th
that Runnels was able to get the match back to All Square. Heading down the final stretch Vlasic was
able to make a nice up-and-down to save par on the par 3, 16th to
Runnels’ bogey and get the match back to 1-up.
He maintained this lead until the very end and sunk his three foot side
hill putt on 18 for the win.
“I’m excited to win this event,” Vlasic said. “I qualified for the US Senior Amateur which
is coming up in September and this win serves as great preparation for that
event.”
This is Vlasic’s third IGA win with previous wins
coming in ’04 at the Mid-Amateur Championship and ’06 at the Tournament of
Champions.