Gudgel family occupies two spots as OGA State Amateur moves to match play
By Ken MacLeod
Darkness was enveloping Cedar Ridge Country when the final members of the field for the 113th Oklahoma State Amateur Championship were finally decided as a 13-man playoff for the final eight spots ended on the fourth playoff hole.
With two magical par saves in the gloaming, Eric Gudgel of Stillwater moved into the 32-man match play portion of the tournament, keeping alive the possibility of what is thought could be the first father-son match in the tournament history, as Grant Gudgel safely qualified in Monday’s final stroke play qualifier which saw over 100 golfers who had already advanced in regional qualifying vying for the 32 spots.
Grant Gudgel, who will play for the University of Iowa this fall, tied for sixth Monday with a 1-under 70. Eric was one of 13 players at 3-over 74 who battled it out for the final eight spots. He nearly topped his tee shot on the third playoff hole, the par-4 eighth, and left himself 227 yards to the pin from the left rough. With Grant providing sound counsel, he lashed a 4-iron from there to pin-high and saved par. On the par-4 ninth, his second shot was short, right and deep in the rough, but he hit a magnificent pitch to about 5 feet and again saved par. When two players bogeyed that hole, he was safe.
At the top of the leaderboard Monday with rounds of 5-under-par 66 were Will McDonald of Oklahoma City, the 2023 champion and 2024 runner up, along with Carson Wright of Norman, a Cameron University golfer who called his 5-birdie, no-bogey effort the “round of my life.” McDonald, who just finished his career at Cincinnati, birdied the final three holes where so many other golfers floundered.
Cameron Cheek of Owasso and the University of Oklahoma was next at 3-under 68 while Colin Bond of Norman and Oklahoma State and junior golfer Ainslie Stanford III of Edmond each shot 69. Joining Grant Gudgel at 1-under were Ian Davis of Edmond and Will Hennessee of Tulsa.
One of the players who failed to advance in the playoff was University of Tulsa football coach Tre Lamb. The Cedar Ridge member was seemingly safe at 1 over through 16 holes, but pulled his tee shot left on the par-4 17th and played it conservative from there, laying up in front of the pond guarding the green, pitching on and two-putting for bogey. On the closing hole he suffered a hard lip-out on his birdie putt and then his par putt from 4 feet did a horse shoe around the hole. On the second playoff hole, the par-4 fourth, he pulled his tee shot left, pushed his second shot into a green side bunker right, made a nice recovery to about 8 feet but missed the par putt to be eliminated.
Match play begins Tuesday morning and continues with the second round Tuesday afternoon. The quarterfinals are Wednesday morning and semifinals Wednesday afternoon, with the championship match Thursday morning.
Complete results of Monday’s round along with match play brackets and live scoring are here.
