Newcomer claims the crown at Independence Day golf tourney
· Yahoo Sports
Jul. 5—MOSCOW — Countrymen far and near may have been celebrating the 250th anniversary of monarchy's end in America, but a new king was crowned on Saturday at the 77th Ken Jordan Sole Survivor golf tournament at the Moscow Elks Lodge Golf Club.
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In the 10-player event that saw a contestant eliminated with each of its nine holes until only one remained, tournament newcomer Michael Wagner battled through a field stacked with former winners, then produced a spectacular final shot to come from out of position and upend defending two-time champion Kyle Nelson for the trophy.
"It was a great Sole Survivor today," tournament organizer Tracy Dorigo said. "Super competitive field coming into it. Down to the wire."
A fabulous shot
In the climactic showdown that saw him pitted against back-to-back defending champion Nelson in a bid to complete the final hole in the fewest strokes, Wagner faced an early disadvantage after his long drive missed the fairway, disappearing wide behind a tree. His next stroke overshot the green in the other direction, landing on the far side from the hole, while Nelson looked poised to clinch a threepeat title with his ball positioned just off the green on the nearer side.
That was when Wagner produced the shot of the tournament: a long, perfectly aligned downhill chip that landed within feet of the hole, rolled slowly but purposefully forward, struck the pin and dropped in for a three-stroke birdie.
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"None that important," came his response when asked whether he had ever sunk a chip of that difficulty before. "It felt great off the club face, and it was just tracking right into (the hole). I saw about 5 feet in that it was going to be going right into the heart."
Amid general cheering and murmurs of amazement from the dozens of spectators in attendance, a cry of "Go Vandals!" could be heard in Wagner's support. Wagner is the head golf professional at the University of Idaho Golf Course.
Needing to sink an improbable shot of his own to match Wagner's three-stroke showing, Nelson missed just short, then walked across the green to shake hands with Sole Survivor's newest champion.
"That was a great shot," Nelson said of Wagner's winning chip. "Fabulous shot."
A star-studded field
Four of Saturday's 10 players had won previous Moscow Elks Sole Survivor titles — four-time champion Jerry Curtis, who finished fifth; three-time winner Sean Dorigo, who took ninth; and two-time winners Nelson and Kevin Peterson, the latter of whom placed 10th.
Lone female qualifier and former runner-up Taylor Riedner earned seventh place in an effort she was proud of in light of the "great field of players this year" and the fact that it was only her "second time out (golfing) for the year," with the first having been last weekend's qualifying round.
"The fact that I got as far as I did, I can't be upset with that," she said.
Other than Wagner, newcomers to the field included sixth-place finisher Jared Kuhn and fourth-place honoree Andrew Grizzell, who was eliminated by the barest of margins on a sudden-death tiebreaking chip-off against Nelson.
A third generation?
Kyle Nelson's son Riley Nelson came away with third place in the event for a second consecutive year after miscuing a shot when he, his father and Wagner contested a three-way chip-off on the penultimate hole.
"I struggled on the short game," Riley Nelson said. "It was a lot of fun. Lots of good golfers out here; some of them got eliminated early, and it took a little bit of pressure off."
Prominent among the tournament's spectators was young Connor Nelson — son of Riley and grandson of Kyle — who amused himself with golf balls while riding along in his mother's cart and stepped forward to practice his own swing on a nearby hole after competition had concluded.
Could this foreshadow the Nelsons' third generation in contention on the Elks Club greens?
"This kid loves golf," Riley Nelson said. "I think he'll probably join the juniors at some point, and as long as he plays good, he might be out here."
Final results
1. Michael Wagner; 2. Kyle Nelson; 3. Riley Nelson; 4. Andrew Grizzell; 5. Jerry Curtis; 6. Jared Kuhn; 7. Taylor Riedner; 8. Ben Mack; 9. Sean Dorigo; 10. Kevin Peterson.
Wendt may be contacted at (208) 848-2268, or [email protected].