Wake Forest Athletics
Groves Wins Eighth Annual Wake Forest Match Play
4/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 22, 2009
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Senior Dustin Groves turned a two-down deficit into a 2-up lead in a four-hole stretch on the back nine to take down teammate Brendan Gielow and win the eighth annual Wake Forest men's golf match play event Wednesday afternoon.
On a perfect spring afternoon at the Old Town Club, Groves and Gielow hooked up in what turned out to be a very well played final match.
The duo started off on the back nine and through 11 holes Gielow found himself with a 1-up lead. On the par-4 3rd hole, Gielow made a nice birdie to extend his lead to two.
Groves, showing his resiliency, popped a drive down the fairway on No. 4 and then hit a 5-iron to 30 feet. After Gielow knocked it close for a birdie-4, Groves rolled in his eagle putt to trim the lead to one.
He then hit it to nine feet on the par-4 fifth hole and rolled that putt in as well to even the match. After missing the green short, Groves chipped-up close for a gimmie-par on the par-3 sixth and as Gielow made just his second bogey of the day, Groves found himself with a 1-up lead.
The two players then hit similar 6-irons into the par-4 seventh and both faced similar putts for birdie. Gielow went first and his putt just slide off the right side of the hole. Groves took advantage of the read and rolled in his third birdie of the day to go 2-up with two to play.
After Gielow's birdie putt missed on the eighth, Groves just had to two-putt for the win, which he did, etching his name on the trophy.
Groves was 5-under for the day, recording three birdies, an eagle and no bogies. Gielow was almost equally as impressive, notching five birdies and two bogies on the round.
"Both players played good rounds today which was good to see," said Wake Forest head coach Jerry Hass. "I am happy for Dustin. He played really well today."
This was the eighth playing of the event and the previous winners have all advanced on to enjoy life on the PGA Tour. Bill Haas won the first three titles from 2001 through 2003. Kyle Reifers then won in 2004 followed by Webb Simpson in 2005 and 2006. He was then stopped in his attempt for three in a row as he fell in the finals to Gielow last year.
