As the 78 Tri-State Section PGA players made their way around Youghiogheny Country Club's challenging layout Monday morning, the occasional discouraged word could be heard.
The course was playing with a bit of an edge. It was in great condition, a little soft perhaps, but the greens were fast and smooth and, combined with a couple borderline pin placements, were giving the players fits as they tried to get out of the qualifying portion of the Tri-State Section PGA Match Play Championship.
Before the 32 survivors began match play in the afternoon, the pin placement on the 16th green, a back-to-front sloping putting surface, was changed. That was the most troubling spot on the course for the players and, once it was changed, they went out and played some really good golf.
Three matches required extra holes, including Berry Hills Country Club's Barry Evans needing 20 holes to oust Brent Johnson of Williams CC. Four more matches resulted in 2&1 victories and by the time all 16 matches had been completed, only third-seeded John Aubrey of Aubrey's Dubbs Dred, had fallen victim to an upset. He was defeated in one of those 2&1 matches, falling to Jim Cichra of the Robert Morris University Island Sports Dome.
The section's big guns, minus Aubrey, will slog through two more rounds today. And there's plenty of experience among the 16 players still alive in the tournament, including two-time winner Sean Farren of Totteridge Golf Club.
"The hardest thing is just trying to make it through the stroke play," said Farren, who won the 2001 Match Play Championship at Youghiogheny. "Once you get to match play, the tendency is to look at the great players left on the board. But you know, you only have to beat a quarter of them. Four guys. And let all the other guys beat each other up."
Farren, who shot 71 in qualifying and knocked off Tomas Lindh of Wheeling CC, 2-up in the first round, said he doesn't necessarily think of himself as a good match-play player.
"I don't really think so, but if I am, it's only in the sense that I make a lot of pars and a lot of times that's good in match play," Farren said. "I try not to make bogeys. I'm not any less aggressive; I'll hit driver around here all day. I'll play as if it's stroke play."
Oakmont's Bob Ford is another guy who doesn't necessarily believe he's a good match-play player.
"I've only won this thing twice in 20 years, that's not very good," said Ford, who is the defending champion. "Match play isn't my favorite because you can go along and make pars and catch a guy who's hot and you're gone."
Brad Westfall of Tygart Lake Golf Course in West Virginia had the day's best round in qualifying, firing a 3-under-par 69. Three players -- Aubrey, Joe Boros of Treesdale Golf & Country Club and Gordon Vietmeier of The Club at Nevillewood -- were among the six who recorded a 1-under 71, but were eliminated in match play.
Matches start at 8 a.m. today, with quarterfinals set to begin early in the afternoon.
