WESTMINSTER, Colo. (July 11, 2014) --In a match that featured six lead changes, Cody Kent of the Country Club at Castle Pines won the 36th and 37th holes after being 1 down to capture the title Friday in the 114th CGA Match Play Championship.
In just the second CGA Match Play final since 1981 to go extra holes, Kent prevailed in 37 holes when Jacob Allenback of Walking Stick Golf Course missed a 3-foot par putt on the first green at The Heritage at Westmoor in Westminster.
Kent, who will be a fifth-year senior at the University of Tulsa, earned his first CGA championship title after finishing runner-up in the 5A state high school tournament twice and in the 2010 CGA Junior Stroke Play. Kent, now 22, was the CGA Junior Player of the Year in 2009.
Allenback, the 2012 4A state high school champion who now plays for Colorado State University-Pueblo, took a 1-up lead after rallying from being 3 down through 27 by winning the 28th, 29th, 30th and 32nd holes. But he missed a 3-foot birdie to win the 33rd hole and hit his second shot into the deep native well left of the 18th green, and lost that 36th hole with a bogey.
Then on the players' third trip up the par-4 first hole on Friday, Kent hit a 52-degree wedge from 138 yards to 7 feet below the cup, while Allenback ended up 20 feet from the flag. After Allenback ran his birdie attempt 3 feet by the hole, Kent left his birdie putt just short. But instead of going to the 38th hole, Allenback pushed his short par putt and Kent had the victory.
The match marked the first CGA Match Play final since 2005 to go extra holes. Nine years ago, Pat Grady went 38 holes to defeat University of Colorado teammate Derek Tolan for the title. Overall, there have been extra holes in the Match Play final eight times in 114 years.
While Friday marked the first extra-hole match of the week for Kent, it was the fourth for Allenback, who defeated younger brother Justin in one of those on Wednesday. Justin was caddying for Jacob on Friday. Jacob Allenback had defeated defending champ David Oraee in the semifinals to get to the final.
View results for Colorado Match Play
ABOUT THE Colorado Match Play
The CGA Match Play Championship will be played
using the PGA TOUR style match play Pod
Play system at gross scoring. This means that any
player who qualifies for the
championship will be guaranteed at least three (3)
matches in the championship at
CommonGround Golf Course. After each player is
ranked (see below), all players will be
distributed into their pod with three (3) other
players. This will yield 16 pods of four (4)
players. Each player will play all three other players
in their pod (see schedule below). The
winner of each pod will advance to the Round of 16
and a single elimination knockout
round will be played at CommonGround Golf Course.
The top 8 players will advance to
complete the championship at Colorado Golf Club in
a single elimination bracket.
Player Seeding: All 64 players will be ranked 1 – 64.
The defending champion will be
ranked #1. Exempt players will be ranked next based
on their 2020 CGA Player of the Year
points standings. The rest of the field of 64 will be
made from qualifying players that came
from an off-site qualifier. Qualifying players will be
ranked in order of their qualifying score
at their given site.
Pod Assignments/Seeding: The pods will follow the
PGA TOUR style of randomized drawing.
Once players have been seeded 1 - 64, players will
be drawn at random so that each pod
will consist of a player ranked 1 - 16 (Player 1), 17 -
32 (Player 2), 33 - 48 (Player 3) and
49 - 64 (Player 4).
Pod Play Scoring: There will be no extra holes during
the pod play portion of matches.
Scoring during pod play will be as follows: Match
Won – 1 point | Match Tied – ½ point |
Match Lost – 0 Points.
Note: If there is a tie for the pod winner, a sudden
death playoff will determine the person
advancing from that pod.
View Complete Tournament Information