Kriebel Takes Rolex Championship Finals At Wheeling Country Club
Photo by Nick Henthorn Trending
WHEELING — After three days of competition and a 32-player field, the PGA Tri-State Rolex Match Play Championship came to a close Wednesday, with ninth-seeded Talon Kriebel taking home the gold against third-seeded Kevin Shields.
The third day of play at Wheeling Country Club started with the semifinals, in which Kriebel faced No. 5 seed Dan Rogers one-up and Shields defeated 23-seed Michael Gervais five-and-three.
The championship match for a $2,400 purse had its fair share of dramatics.
Kriebel was two-up late in the match, but Shields recovered strokes in the final hour, the 17th and 18th holes of the day, with birdies in each to square the score and force extra holes. A fitting climax to a tournament with plenty of twists and turns.
In the first extra hole, Kriebel managed a par while Shields bogey'd, giving the gold to Kriebel. Afterwards, Kriebel spoke highly of his final opponent.
"This last round with Kevin was really a battle," Kriebel said. "Being down to him is tough because he's a very good player. I think everything kind of clicked this week which was nice. Putting definitely helped, keeping the ball in front of me and not making too many mistakes along the greens helped tremendously."
"Going into extra holes with [Shields] is tough because you know he's not going to make too many mistakes. It was definitely a grind, the whole 18 was a grind, so it was nice to come out and perform and be able to get the win over somebody that caliber."
Kriebel says his putting game was a big reason for his performance.
"Putting definitely was big this week. I had a lot of good putts, lag putts, three-to-four footers that had a lot of break to them. Those helped me stay ahead. Getting up in the matches quick in the first few rounds helped me out."
The victory was Kriebel's first individual win as a pro golfer. He bested No. 8 seed Jack Ramsett and top seed John Aber to make it to Wednesday.
"He's a very good player, very nice young man and he's got a bright playing future ahead of him in the Tri-State section," Rich Conwell, the General Manager and PGA Head Golf Professional at Wheeling Country Club, said. "This will not be his last major. This will probably grow his confidence a little bit."
The dramatic finish was the end of what Conwell said was a "return to excellence" for Wheeling Country Club, which has the oldest golf course in the state. The Rolex Match Play Championship was the first major championship the facility had hosted since the West Virginia Open in 1988.
"We hosted a PGA event back in the 1930's, and we've hosted three West Virginia opens," Conwell said. "This is kind of a return to excellence for this facility. Really happy the way the golf course turned out for all three days of the event, really happy with the field, a very good field. We had golf professionals from a lot of facilities, and the qualifying scores were four under-par. The cut line was +6, so the golf course challenged a lot of people, matches were really good, and to a man all the comments about the golf course were excellent."