Kelly Arnold marches to the Match Play Championship
Kelly Arnold survived a semi-final match with 3-time winner Greg Kline and then went on to win the final against Young Tom Litzler to capture his first Match Play Championship and his 3rd major title on Sunday at the Links at Whitmore Lake.
Arnold won his first round match-up with Tom Sachs 2&1 on Friday and returned Saturday to battle against his Memorial tournament partner Rick Persichetti. Four natural birdies in the span of 6 holes in the middle of the match helped build a 3-up lead that would hold up for a 3&1 finish.
In the Sunday morning semi-final match against Kline, Arnold was 3-up after 4 holes but gave it all back as the two made the turn all-square. They traded the lead 5 times on the back nine (played on the front) and a lipped out par putt on #9 kept Kline from forcing extra holes in the closest match of the tournament.
In the final, Arnold birdied 3 of the first 6 holes and was 4-up thru 7. He played 13 holes in 1-under par and Young Tom never had a chance. The final score was 6&5.
