STATE’S FINEST
Best senior golfers in Iowa competing for match play crown
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Many of the state's top players started their journey toward the Iowa Golf Association Senior Match Play championship on Wednesday.
After a two-hour morning delay due to overnight storms, the action began at the Fort Dodge Country Club.
In the senior bracket, Pocahontas native J.D. Anderson is the top seed. He earned a first-round bye, and will now face multiple-time Fort Dodge Amateur titlist Terry Cook of Norwalk on Thursday. Cook prevailed 2-up in his opener.
Other winners on Wednesday at the FDCC were fourth-seeded Joe Palmer (5 and 3), sixth-seeded Josh Janeczko (3 and 2), former Humboldt standout and No. 7 seed Jeff Panek (1-up), No. 9 seed Jeff Collett (1-up), No. 11 Matt Weresh (3 and 2), No. 12 Ron Wastyn (2 and 1), No. 14 Bill Matzdorff (5 and 4), No. 18 Michael Arndorfer of Algona (4 and 2), No. 20 Scott Hart (2 and 1), No. 23 Tony Newkirk (4 and 3), No. 25 Curtis Holck (4 and 3) and No. 28 Chris Kramer (2 and 1).
No. 2 seed Gene Elliott and third-seeded Jon Brown both earned byes as well. Kramer and Holck scored the biggest upsets in round one, ousting the No. 5 and 8 seeds, respectively. Newkirk bounced the No. 10 seed.
The senior division's second round is Thursday morning, with the quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon. The semifinals are Friday morning, and the championship match is Friday afternoon.
The super senior side went almost according to plan across the board in round one. The top three seeds -- Tom Norton, Tony Malizia of Humboldt and Gowrie's Tom Schill -- advanced via byes. No. 4 Todd Sapp, fifth-seeded Andy Burton, No. 6 Joe Ward, seventh-seeded Pat Ryan, No. 8 Tim Peters, No. 9 Stephen Larson and 10th-seeded Bill Sutton also got opening passes.
No. 11 seed Terry Miller of Fort Dodge (7 and 5), No. 12 Tom Christensen (7 and 5), 13th-seeded Steve Jordan (1-up), No. 17 John Kinsey (2 and 1), 18th-seeded Mark Gambalana (19 holes) and No. 19 David Studer (5 and 4) marched forward on Wednesday.
The Round of 16 for the super seniors is Thursday morning, with the quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon. Friday will bring the semifinals in the morning and the finals in the afternoon.
The women's senior division is highlighted by top seeds Laura Leszczynski, Rosalie Kubesheski, Michelle Klein, Geri Huser and Kelly Nelson. They have all been given byes into Thursday afternoon's quarterfinals.
Thursday morning sees Kathy Fortune take on Carroll Dethrow, Kelly Grimes square off with Jan Sewright, and Mary Howell face Leighann Larocca.
The semifinals for the women are on Friday morning. The championship match is Friday afternoon.