Back nine rally earns Trstenjak match play win

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This article was published 12/06/2020 (2257 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Elmhurst’s Marco Trstenjak started slowly but rallied on the back nine earn a 2-up victory over Kolby Day as the Golf Manitoba Match Play Championships opened at St. Charles Friday.

The 20-year-old Winnipegger, who recently completed his sophomore season on the University of Nevada Las Vegas golf team, is the top-seeded men’s player in the field.

“I was 1 down through four pretty early,” said Trstenjak. “I had a couple of three-putts at the start. The greens were rolling really quick and I was having trouble adjusting to the speed until I got the hang of it.

“I was still one down after the front nine and turned it on with birdies (on 10, 11 and 14) early on the back, got to two up. Kolby made birdies on 15 and 16 to square the match and then I finished with good par and birdie and 17 and 18 to win it two up.

Day, who plays out of the Wheat City, missed the green on No. 17 and wasn’t able to get up and down. He also missed a 15-footer for birdie on No. 18 while Trstenjak holed out from eight feet.

Trstenjak, who came home from school when Nevada courses closed in March due to the pandemic, missed six weeks of practice time but said he has been able to find his game recently.

A practice round at St. Charles earlier in the week reacqainted him with the course.

“I was lucky to get out for a practise round with one of the members,” said Trstenjak. “I’ve played here numerous times but probably not in the last two or three years. It was nice to get out for a practice round, make good notes and really set myself up with a good plan to play the course well.”

Trstenjak will face Elmhurst’s Jack Werhun in Saturday’s second round.

“I’m playing really well,” said Trstenjak. “Today was a little bit rough off the tee but I’ve been overall hitting the ball really well so I’m going to go out early tomorrow to the range and try to straighten a couple of things out, make some putts and get a better guage of the speed on the greens. But other than that, I’m really happy with the way I’m hitting the ball and getting around the course.”

Meanwhile, No. 2-seed Austin Dobrescu outlasted Breezy Bend’s Jordon McDonald, 3 and 1. The 23-year-old from Shilo takes on Ryan Terdik of Pine Ridge Saturday.

Dobrescu said he felt no extra pressure as the returning winner.

“I kinda put the most pressure on myself, not really because I’m the defending champ,” said Dobrescu. “I know that when I play solid then I shouldn’t be losing matches.”

Like most everyone, Dobrescu has found it challenging to keep his game in good shape.

“March and April I was basically hitting balls indoors into a net and once it started warming up I’d go to a baseball diamond close to where I live,” he said. “So there wasn’t too much going on for me either.”

On Saturday, No. 7 seed Hannah Diamond will open defence of her women’s match play title when she takes on second-seeded Charmaine Mackid while returning senior men’s winner Garth Collings meets Brant Greer in first-round action.