Kansas Amateur final to pit Sam Stevens, Matt Green

It is fitting that Sam Stevens and Matt Green are the final two golfers in the 105th Kansas Amateur.

One has been in the other’s peripherals all week, as they have taken turns in transforming a challenging par-71 course at Wichita Country Club into their own playground.

Each has defeated five straight opponents to reach Sunday’s championship match, and done so in dominant fashion. In fact, Stevens and Green each have recorded an immaculate 33 birdies in their seven rounds.

After trouncing their semifinal opponents – Stevens defeated Bradley Lane in 14 holes, while Green closed out Max Lazzo in 13 – the title match, with the morning round beginning at 7:30 a.m. and a second 18 following in the afternoon, will no doubt feature the two best golfers from this week.

“I feel like if we both play the game we expect to play, it could come down to the 36th hole,” said Green, a current Kansas State golfer. “I would be more than excited to play 36 holes of golf with Sam. I think this could be a really good match in the finals.”

Stevens and Green operate with a certain kind of ruthlessness. Both are capable of launching tee shots further than anyone, which seems unfair considering their accuracy with their irons.

But the true beauty in their games lies in their misses. On the rare occasion the ball does not fly exactly where they desire, it doesn’t fly far from the intended target. This is by design. When they miss, it’s in a spot where they feel safe missing.

The result has been an astonishing low number of costly mistakes for the two golfers. Green has five bogeys in his seven rounds consisting of 111 holes, while Stevens has six in 116. Combined, that is a bogey roughly once every 20 holes.

“I think the keys for me and Sam this week has just been not making any big mistakes,” Green said. “I can hit a bad shot here or there, but I’ve always recovered well. When I do miss, I’m missing in the correct spots so I’m not just absolutely grinding to make a par.”

Griding is something Stevens was able to do for the second straight match on Saturday morning, meeting a stiff challenge from Topeka’s Ronnie McHenry. After McHenry pulled even with a birdie on No. 14, the fourth time the match was tied, it created a staredown for the final four holes.

Stevens, of course, wasn’t ready to blink. He played solidly, earning pars on all four holes and came away with the victory when McHenry mishandled a delicate chip from just off the 18th green that led to a bogey.

“You could tell after the sixth or seventh hole, it was just going to be a grind-it-out match for both of us,” Stevens said. “I’m just very comfortable out there. I’ve been playing pretty good for this past month and I feel really good about my game right now.”

Meanwhile, Green was dueling with Chase Hanna, the tournament’s 2013 champion, in what felt like a championship tilt. But Green was able to capitalize on a pair of Hanna mishaps early in the match and never let his 2-hole lead dip en route to closing Hanna out in 16 holes.

Neither Stevens nor Green saw much adversity in their semifinal matches, as they each met their potential to set up a highly-anticipated showdown of near-identical golfers.

Green has never made a run of any sort in this tournament, as he had actually never won a match in match play before. But for Stevens, there is more at stake.

Not only has Stevens suffered through heartbreak in losing in the finals the last two summers, but he also is attempting to become the third generation of Stevens to win the Kansas Amateur after his father, Charlie, won in 2010 and his grandfather, Johnny, won back-to-back titles in 1960 and 1961.

“It’s hard to keep your mind off of it, but these past two years I’ve been thinking about it and I don’t know if it’s done me that much good,” Sam said. “Being in this situation before, I think I know what to think and what not to think now. I’ll try to avoid thinking about that tomorrow. If it happens, it happens and it will be pretty special.”

Lazzo makes semis – Wichita native Max Lazzo took a year off from competitive golf, but didn’t stop missing the thrill of competing.

Anyone who makes a run as deep as Lazzo, his lasting until the semifinals on Saturday, will enjoy playing well, but it was about more than that for Lazzo.

“This whole week has just been a complete blast,” Lazzo said. “I had my brother on the bag and a bunch of friends and family members who came out to support. The staff and members at WCC have been amazing. I just had to kind of step back and say, ‘This is so sweet’ this week.”

Lazzo rode the strength of five birdies in defeating Tyler Chapman in the morning quarterfinals, but couldn’t string together enough of them to keep up with Green in the semifinals.

Losing so close to the finals was difficult, but Lazzo had already accepted it and was reminiscing about a week he is sure to remember.

“I’ve always looked at the bracket in years past and seen guys in the semifinals and been like, ‘Wow, they must be playing some really good golf,’” Lazzo said. “I never thought I was capable of coming this far in a tournament like this. But now I know I can compete against anyone and that kind of pumps you up. I can’t hang my head, it’s been too much fun.”

This story was originally published July 25, 2015 at 7:05 PM with the headline "Kansas Amateur final to pit Sam Stevens, Matt Green."