July 22, 2009
WATERLOO, Iowa — Shooting a 7-under-par 65 both days of competition, former UK golfer Andy Winings won his first professional tournament of his promising young career by taking the 76th Annual Waterloo Jaycee Greater Waterloo Open Golf Classic July 18-19 at Irv Warren Memorial Golf Course at Byrnes Park.
Winings, a senior during the 2008-09 season, played superb and consistent golf all weekend to claim the title. Winings’ opening round of 65 was tied for the second-lowest round of the day and advanced him past the opening round cut and into the final round.
Winings repeated his stellar 65 on the second day of competition to claim his first professional golf tournament with a 36-hole total of 130. Winings won the tournament by one stroke over Matt Maskel and Steve Runge, who shot a 131. Kenneth Coakley and Garrett Jones finished tied for third with a 132.
The Waterloo Open is held annually and consisted this year of 192 professional golfers from around the world. The opening round was Saturday, July 18 with the top 50 golfers advancing to the final round held Sunday. The tournament consists of a senior division, amateur division and a professional division.
The native of Brownsburg, Ind., played in all 12 events for the Wildcats last season, posting a team low 72.72 season stroke average on the year. Winings’ low round of the year was a 65 at the Hootie at Bulls Bay Intercollegiate where he finished tied for 15th. Winings’ best finish of the year came at the Jacksonville University Invitational where he placed second in the tournament. Winings ended the year with more top-10 finishes (five) and top-20 finishes (10) than any other UK golfer.
Kohn Wins Irvin Cobb Championship Over Former Teammate Blakefield
Standing at 9-under-par heading into the final hole of the Pepsi/SuperValu Irvin Cobb Golf Championship at Paxton Park in Paducah, Ky., 2005-06 UK golf senior Matt Kohn missed a short birdie putt, putting him in a tie with his former UK teammate and roommate Mark Blakefield forcing a playoff.
After both Kohn and Blakefield, a senior on the 2004-05 SEC Championship team, made par on the par-4 16th hole, Kohn hit the shot of the tournament, sticking his tee shot on the green of the par-3 17th hole. After the Longwood, Fla., native, nailed his birdie putt, the Cobb Championship was his.
“I literally couldn’t have asked for a better playoff,” Kohn told the Paducah Sun after the tournament. “It’s nice to play at a tournament and not be so stressed and have fun.”
Blakefield’s final round ended close to two hours before he would know that he and his friend would be playing a playoff for the championship.
Both players were chasing Paducah native Rick Cochran after the first round when Cochran shot an 8-under-par 63. Cochran struggled during the final round of the tournament, shooting a 4-over-par and opening the gate for Kohn and Blakefield to make a push towards to tournament title.
In his senior season at Kentucky, Kohn played in 11 events with a team-low season stroke average of 73.18. Kohn finished in the top 10 three times, including winning the Gary Koch Intercollegiate. During his time at UK, Kohn was a PING All-America Honorable Mention in 2006, an All-SEC second-team selection in 2004 and an academic All-SEC selection in 2004-05.
Blakefield also had a successful career at UK. During his senior season, Blakefield won both the Gary Koch Intercollegiate and the Cleveland Golf Intercollegiate. He finished the season playing in all 13 events and a 73.31 season stroke average. Blakefield was also selected All-SEC second team in 2005.
