Kansas-Nebraska Junior Cup Ends in Tie Once Again
Singles Matches Conducted Thursday at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wichita
WICHITA, KS (August 4, 2022) – The 37th Kansas-Nebraska Junior Cup ended in an 8-8 for the fourth time in seven years, and Kansas retained the cup for a third-straight year on Thursday at Rolling Hills Country Club in Wichita, Kansas.
The teams entered the final day, which featured eight singles matches, tied at 4-all. Nebraska had jumped out to a big lead in the Wednesday's Four-Ball session, 3-1, but Kansas took Foursomes, 3-1, to tie the matches up.
Nebraska started strong, needing 4.5 points to take the cup back, and at one point, led in the first four matches. Brock Kuhlman of Columbus, Brayden Schram of Hastings, Kolby Brown of Omaha and Will Mullin of Omaha all took early leads. A little later in the morning, Nebraska led in five matches, and trailed in just one, with two tied.
Kuhlman put Nebraska on the board first, securing the largest win of any singles match. He took down Overland Park's Carson Baker, 4 and 3. Schram, who is joining Kuhlman in the UNL PGM program this fall, found himself 3-down with four holes to play, but battle back to win three-straight holes and send the match to No. 18 tied. He lost the hole though, and Wellington's Deitrek Gill won the match and pushed Kansas a point closer to the four points necessary to retain.
Brown went into the 18th hole with a 1-up lead, but would tie his match against Kansas City's Easton Johnson. Ashland's Coltrane Mittag would flip his match on the 18th hole, going from 1 down to tying his match against Overland Park's Ty Lasley. Mullin would fall in his match, 3 and 2, to Shawnee's Jacob Fratzel.
That left it down to the final three matches, with Kansas just a single point from securing the cup again. Elkhorn's Trevor Gutschewski battled back from 2-down, and won two of the last three holes to win his match, 1 up, against Wichita's Noah Holtzman. Lincoln's Thomas Bryson closed his match out on No. 17, winning 2 and 1 over Giles Frederickson of Topeka.
So, for the second-straight year, it came down to the final match on the course. The Nebraska Junior Match Play Champion Jackson Benge of Omaha had a great start and then birdied Nos. 10 and 11 to take a 2-up lead over Olathe's Tyler Strong. Strong would win four of the next six holes though, and closed out the match and secured the cup with a 2-and-1 win.
Bryson led the way for Nebraska, winning all three of his matches. He and Fratzel were the only players to earn all three points possible in their matches this year.
Kansas now leads the overall series, 22-15, with Nebraska set to host the matches in 2023. The teams also tied in 2016, 2019 and 2021, with Kansas retaining each year, other than 2019. It's also the sixth time the matches have ended in an 8-all tie in 37 years.
Additional information, including final results, is available at the Junior Cup website below.
About the NGA
The Nebraska Golf Association, founded in 1966, is comprised of all members of public and private clubs and/or municipal or regional golf associations which utilize an approved handicap service recognized by the USGA and provided by the NGA. Our mission is to uphold and promote the game of golf and its values to all golfers in Nebraska. Among the duties of the Association include governance of member clubs and service as their handicapping and course rating authority, conduct of state golf championships, local USGA qualifying & other notable competitions, promotion of junior golf, presentation of worthwhile educational programs and support of allied golf organizations in Nebraska. The Nebraska Golf Association is an Allied Golf Association of the USGA and carries out core services including Handicap Administration and Oversight, Course Rating, Rules of Golf and Rules of Amateur Status, Tournaments and USGA Championship Qualifiers and USGA Initiatives and Community Programs.
