STAFFORD COUNTY – St. John’s Cole Kinnamon played with confidence in a playoff for medalist honors at the Class 2A golf regional at Stafford Country Club.
Kinnamon hit a perfectly struck 3-wood on the 250-yard par 4 hole to set up a winning 3-foot birdie. Kinnamon and Ellinwood’s Gavin Vink tied for low score at 5-over-par 75. Vink played it safe with an iron off the tee, 40 yards behind Kinnamon’s drive.
“I hit it right over the tree down the left side of the fairway,” Kinnamon said. “It made for a pretty easy birdie.”
Five individuals and Plainville (336), WaKeeney-Trego (343) and Ellinwood (349) qualify for Class 2A state golf May 25 at Emporia Municipal Golf Course.
Kinnamon offset a pair of double bogeys with a pair of birdies in his 18-hole round at Stafford Country Club, St. John’s home course. St. John’s Tim Spare is the Tigers’ lone state golf champion in 2009.
Stafford features small greens, narrow fairways and sloping greens. Northeast winds blowing from 15-to-25 mph made for some tricky drives and approaches.
“It’s an advantage knowing this course because I know my yardages all the time,” Kinnamon said. “It was blowing pretty good early in the round, at least a 11/2-club wind, both with and against the wind.”
Kinnamon said except for two holes where he made most of his mistakes, he was pleased with his best score of the season.
“My short game was strong today and I’m happy with my score,” he said.
Vink birdied three holes and built a two-stroke lead until he double bogeyed his 16th hole. He’s used to playing a course with small greens and tight fairways at Grove Park in Ellinwood.
“I’m used to playing pretty small greens and narrow fairways because of Ellinwood, so I was comfortable on this course,” he said. “I scored around the greens and my score matched up expectations today.”
Vink said he handled the wind fairly well, hitting two extra clubs when needed.
“The wind played a big factor because it was two clubs into the wind today,” he said.
Ellinwood High’s Spencer Alefs (1996) and Kody Kirkpatrick (2000) have captured state golf titles.
Ellinwood qualified its team with a 349 total featuring four players. Theron Sjogren (84), Conner Ewing (88) and Marc Waite (102) counted for the Eagles. Waite also plays tennis during the spring. Coach Greg Maxwell was thankful Waite could compete.
“I knew if our top three players scored like they are capable, we’d have a great shot of qualifying for state,” Maxwell said. “Our top three guys did their jobs.”
Qualifying as individuals were Kinsley’s Austin Boggs (82) and Zach Crockett (84) and Clayton Ingham of Central Plains (85).
CLASS 2A REGIONAL
STAFFORD COUNTY
Team scores—1. Plainville 336; 2. WaKeeney-Trego 343; 3. Ellinwood, 349 (Vink 75, Ewing 88, Waite 102); 4. Central Plains, 370 (Ingham 85, Miller 86, Moran 99, Schneweis 100, Leiker 118, Beck 117); 5. St. John 382 (Kinnamon 75, Collins 101, Milton 102, Brummer 104, Schwein 108, Roberts 119); 6. Hill City 404; 7. Smith Center 410; 8. South Central 420.
Medalists—1. Kinnamon, St. John, 75; 2. Vink, Ellinwood, 75; 3. Bobek, Plainville, 76; 4. Kendall, Kiowa County, 77; 5. Owens, Plainville, 79; 6. Reetz, Wakeeney-Trego, 81; 7, Boggs, Kinsley, 82; 8. Sjogren, Ellinwood, 84; 9. Crockett, Kinsley, 84; 10. Kerns, Plainville, 85.
