Down two holes with three to play, Drew Todd had no choice but to cut it loose.
He won 16 and on the 18th tee, still trailing, ripped his drive. The ball stopped on the fringe on the front of the green, just as he had vocally commanded it to as it took flight. It led to a birdie and a match-tying win after an exasperated Jace Day saw his birdie putt lip out.
“I got lucky and won 16 and we both pushed 17,” Todd said. “I lipped out my par putt on that one, so it hurt a little bit. I put a little (something extra) on that (drive). You probably heard me. I needed that.”
The battle between Division I golfers in the semifinals of the Men’s Championship flight at the 95th annual Bloomington City Golf Tournament at Cascades on a partly rainy, partly sunny Saturday was playing long, as expected.
Forced to the 19th hole, Day had to come up with a huge shot of his own and did, to set up a birdie and the win to send him into the 36-hole final on Sunday morning. It’ll be an all Screaming Eagle affair at 7:30 against University of Southern Indiana teammate and defending champ Jason Bannister.
The combined age for Day, 21, and Bannister, 20, will match the 2011 title tilt between then 20-year-old Mitch Oard and 21-year-old Nick Bennett for youngest in tourney history.
“It should be a good match,” Day said. “He played pretty well today. I played pretty well for a stint. Thankfully tomorrow, it’s 36 holes, so you can take things a little bit more for granted and take every hole as it comes a little bit easier than an 18. It should be fun.”
Day, who had seen his run at a repeat in 2022 derailed in the semifinals on 17, was having flashbacks as his lead melted away. So he put that behind him and fast-forwarded to the 19th hole. His 3-wood made it all the way to the eighth fairway but his 8-iron was a masterpiece, stopping 10 feet from the hole.
“I needed a big reset after that,” Day said. “I always seem to put myself in pretty good spots and I seem to always find the one way to lose when there seems to be a lot of ways to win. So it feels good to actually, definitely not being clutch in that moment, but at least I was able to pull through in that moment instead of giving it away.
“Had a really good lie, so I knew I could get a little bit more out of it. Honestly, I was so annoyed, I swung as hard as I could and got lucky and caught it on the screws and it ended up being a pretty good shot.”
His eagle putt wouldn’t fall, but Todd left himself a difficult birdie putt he couldn’t twist in.
“I was mad at myself,” Todd said. “I was pin high, but you don’t want to be on (the left) side of the green. It’s not ideal really. I saw him hit a good shot and I had a 34-yard wedge shot. I said, ‘ I’ve got to get this up there, he’s got an eagle putt and I’m chipping for eagle, he’s going to make birdie no matter what.”
It was all square after 13 and the 2-up lead Day earned on 15 was the only time either went up more than one.
“It was a fun match,” Todd said. “We both played pretty solid. We both were 2-under for the day. We both wish we had played better, but that’s a part of it.”
“Drew’s a really good player,” Day said. “He doesn’t play at Ball State by fluke. He’s a really good player and a really good guy. Even though we were having a match, it felt like I was just playing golf for fun, which is a pretty cool feeling.”
Bannister breakout
Meanwhile, Bannister had his hands full with fourth seed Logan Vernon, a grad student at St. Mary-of-the-Woods, who started birdie-eagle. It was even after nine, with Vernon three-under to that point.
“I knew it was going to take everything I had,” Vernon said. “And I couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. I played really well. I was three or four under for the holes that we played. I just got beat by a better man, just tip your cap.”
Bannister, with Lance Ringler as his caddy, had to up the ante and won Nos. 10 and 11, then 13 after chipping in from a few feet off the green to go 3 up. He won 14, too, and suddenly, a tight match was in his hands and 5 and 3 win.
“I’m starting to learn how to play around these greens because they’re a little different than any other course I play,” Bannister said. “Usually, I can throw it at the hole and it’ll stop a little bit. But here’s there’s subtitle firmness to you where you have to learn to play it short.
“And having Lance on the bag, he just helped me.”
Bannister played the first six holes of the back nine in 5-under and was 7-under on the day.
“He was just doing everything, especially on the back side,” Vernon said.
Now it’s back to the final, where no Men’s champion has repeated since Oard in 2013-14.
“It’s difficult,” Bannister said. “You win it once and then you expect to do it again. In golf, you can’t expect anything. But it means a lot to me to get back (into the final). We had a hell of a match today.
“That was fun, probably the most fun I’ve had in the tournament because there were a lot of fireworks. A lot of birdies, two eagles, that’s how it should be. There was definitely a little bit of pressure I put on myself to make it back to the final.”
More: City Golf: Beat goes on for Brown in Super Senior semis
Juniors final set
Top seed Ryan Decker had no problems in getting past Lyle Henry, 7 and 6 in the only semifinal played to a conclusion. Decker will face third seed Ike Wilkie, who advanced after Nash Henry conceded his match.
They’ll tee off for their 18-hole final at 9:06.
More: All-time City Golf champions
BLOOMINGTON CITY GOLF TOURNAMENT
Saturday’s results
PHIL TALBOT MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Jason Bannister d. [4] Logan Vernon, 5 and 3
[2] Jace Day d. [6] Drew Todd, 19 holes
PAUL GRAY SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Gary EuDaly d. [4] Matt Seifers, 6 and 5
[2] Jim Alexander d. [6] Mark Chestnutwood, 6 and 4
ROSS RUSH SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
[1] Rory Brown d. [5] Bob Hasty, 1 up
[6] Dan Neubecker d. [7] Don Chastain, 3 and 2
MEN’S REGULAR FLIGHTS
First: [1] Daniel Melwid d. [4] Brad Scroggins, 7 and 6; [6] Devin Price-Presslaff d. p2[ Nate Herr, 6 and 5. Second: [5] Matt Newman d. [1] Charles Osborne, 2 and 1; [3] Brad McLaughlin d. [7] Andrew Conder, 6 and 5. Third: [1] Chris Stedman d. [5] Matt Jacobs, 19 holes; [7] Jason Storm d. [3] Nick Zwissler, 1 up. Fourth: [1] Russ Wilkie d. [5] James Richardson, 2 and 1; [3] Eli Prather d. [7] Michael Spangler, 2 and 1. Fifth: p4[ Kyle McWhorter d. [1] Brian Wise, WD; [2] Wyatt Birch d. [3] Inchang Park, 5 and 4.
SENIOR REGULAR FLIGHTS
First: [1] Joe McWhorter d. [5] Mike Vernon, Jr., 7 and 6; [3] Burke Geene d. [2] Robert Milam, obese.
SUPER SENIOR REGULAR FLIGHTS
First: [4] Steve McDonald d. [8] Doak Henry Sr., WD; [7} George Finley d. [6] John Cantwell, 4 and 3. Second: [8] Gary Walters d. [4] Michael Thomas, 1 up; [7] Jim Shea d. [6] Craig Spanburg, 1 up. Third: [4] Mark Deal d. [1] Steve Englert, 2 and 1; [3] Rand McKamey d. [2] Steve Layman, 2 and 1.
JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
[1] Ryan Decker d. [4] Lyle Henry, 7 and 6; [3] Ike Wilkie d. [2] Nash Henry, conceded.
SUNDAY TEE TIMES
PHIL TALBOT MEN’S CHAMPIONSHIP
7:30 am: [1] Jason Bannister vs. [2] Jace Day, 36 holes
PAUL GRAY SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
7:38 a.m.: [1] Gary EuDaly vs. [2] Jim Alexander, 36 holes
ROSS RUSH SUPER SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
7:46 a.m.: [1] Rory Brown vs. [6] Dan Neubecker, 36 holes
MEN’S REGULAR FLIGHTS (18 holes)
7:54 (First): [1] Daniel Melwid vs. [6] Devin Price-Presslaff
8:02 (Seconds): [3] Brad McLaughlin vs. [5] Matt Newman
8:10 (Third): [1] Chris Stedman vs. [7] Jason Storm
8:18 (Fourth): [1] Russ Wilkie vs. [3] Eli Prather
8:26 (Fifth): [2] Wyatt Birch vs. [4] Kyle Whorter
SENIOR REGULAR FLIGHTS
8:34 (First): [1] Joe McWhorter vs. [3] Burke Geene
SUPER SENIOR REGULAR FLIGHTS
8:42 (First): [4] Steve McDonald vs. [7] George Finley
8:50 (Seconds): [7] Jim Shea vs. [8] Gary Walters
8:58 (Third): [3] Rand McKamey vs. [4] Mark Deal
JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP
9:06 a.m.: [1] Ryan Decker vs. [3] Ike Wilkie
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: USI teammates to tangle in Bloomington City Golf Men’s Championship