Chris Hartenstein, shown here to the right, was the first round leader of the 7th Annual Chester Cup at Great Hills Country Club with 68. When he walked off the front nine of the second round having shot two under 33 and get to five under for the tournament, he felt pretty good about his position. Five under after 27 holes, not bad for mid amateur golf. However, the feeling was temporary. It lasted until he saw Kody King hole a birdie putt on the 10th green to go six under for the day and Rick Arnett, Head Professional at Great Hills, comment that King was now -6 and in the lead.
King birdied holes 1,3,4,5,7 and left a makeable birdie putt on #9 just short to shoot 30 on the front nine. King, last years player of the year in the Austin Amateur Golf standings, had a one shot lead over Hartenstein as he walked off the 10th tee. Unfortunately, his feeling of being in good shape was also temporary. When his tee shot on 11 went through the fairway and out of bounds, his hopes for the win were somewhat diminished. He eventually made a bogie on the hole to fall back to -5 for the tournament. Then he then bogied #12 to fall to 4 under. Now he trailed by a shot.
Meanwhile Hartenstein played steady, posting pars on 10-13. Number 14 was the turning point. King knocked in a birdie putt on the 14th green to get to -5 and tie the lead. Shortly after that, Hartenstein who was playing the in the final group behind King, made double bogey on 14 to fall back to -3. Essentially a three shot swing on one hole which eventually decided the title.
King added a birdie on 17 to get to -6 and Hartenstein birdied 16 to get back to -4. Hartenstein made par on 17 and 18 and King made par on 18 to win by two shots with a 136 total. Shown above with Chester Burke, long time employee at Great Hills Country Club and the tournament namesake, King talked about his round and posed with the trophy. See a live interview with King here.
Finishing in third was Steven Paterson, who matched King's 65 for the low round of the tournament. Paterson, shown here, shot 74 in the first round to post a three under par total of 139 for the two days. Tom Johnson finished 4th at 143 and Robert Evans finished 5th at 144.
See the photos from the tournament here.
See the full field scores here.