Fernandez, Knabe team for Heart of American Four-Ball title
Connor Knabe and Ben Fernandez with Heart of America trophy
(Kansas City Golf Photo)
OVERLAND PARK, KS (August 10, 2016) -- On June 12th Ben Fernandez and Connor Knabe won the Kansas Four-Ball, almost exactly two months later the duo paired together once more to this time claim the Heart of America Four-Ball title.
Playing at Milburn Golf & Country Club the Kansas State teammates completed their run to the title with an impressive 6&5 victory in the title match against former UMKC player Park Ulrich and current SMU Mustang Alex Higgs.
The 36-hole final started a bit slowly for Fernandez and Knabe as they were 1 down after six holes. However, once this duo gets on a role they don't slow down. If you remember back to their Kansas Four-Ball title they shot back-to-back 11-under 61's to win the title.
Fernandez, a redshirt freshman at Kansas State, and Knabe, a senior, began their title match run with a win on the 7th to square the match. The run continued with wins on Nos. 8, 11, 12 and then for good measure 18 to take a 4 up lead after the opening 18-holes.
Following a series of halves Ulrich and Higgs won the 22nd hole to creep within in 3 down but wins on the 28th, 29th and 31st holes closed out the match.
The Heart of American Four-Ball began on Monday with Round of 32 matches and each of the first two days included two rounds of play.
Fernandez and Knabe reached the finals thanks to a 3&2 win over Chase Hanna and Preston Fleenor in the semifinals.
Ulrich and Higgs outlasted Jeff Bell and Jon Platz 2 up in their semifinal match.
View results for Heart of America Four-Ball
ABOUT THE Heart of America Four-Ball
Stroke play qualifying with low (32
championship and 16 senior teams) advancing to
match play. Open to any male amateur golfer
with an active
USGA handicap index. Championship teams
combined index must be 10.0 or less. Senior
teams combined index must be 14.0 or less.
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