Hunter Sparks won medalist honors Wednesday at the Kansas Amateur golf tournament, shooting 2-under 138 for 36 holes at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson.
Sparks, a sophomore at Wichita State, shot 71 on Wednesday. He finished stroke play one shot ahead of former Kansas golfer Andrew Storm. Storm was one of two golfers in the 156-player field to break par in the second round with a 69. Mark Terranova also shot 1-under on Wednesday and tied for 22nd at 150.
"That is huge for me," Sparks was quoted as saying on the Kansas Golf Association website. "I haven't won anything since my high school days... it's a huge momentum builder and gives me a lot of confidence going forward."
The top 64 golfers return this morning for match play, with Sparks facing Andew O'Brate of Garden City at 7:30 a.m.
Nine players were tied at 155 and went to a playoff for the final six match play spots. Chase Chamberlin of Lawrence took one of the spots with a hole in one on the 177-yard 10th hole.
The field will be reduced to 32 today, with two rounds of match play Friday and two more Saturday narrowing the field to two players. The champion will be determined Sunday in a 36-hole final.
Defending champion Matt Ewald of Topeka tied for 13th with consecutive rounds of 74. Wichitan Dodge Kemmer, who lost to Ewald in last year's final, tied for third with rounds of 73 and 70. Jack Courington, who won the Wichita city match play title last week, shot 144 to tie for fifth.
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