Though the feeling of winning the Emporia Men’s City Golf Championship was definitely pleasing, Barry Muninger could have done without the dramatics.
Muninger won the City Golf title for the second time Sunday at the Emporia Municipal Golf Course with a two-day, 1-over 144, but not after he had to claim a playoff victory over Fletcher Harder and Eric Reimer after four-putting away his outright lead on the final hole.
“That wasn’t on purpose,” Muninger said of the late-round excitement. “It was just one thing on top of another, and next thing I know, we’re playing more holes.”
Though he went into the final hole with a three-stroke lead over Harder, and despite a well-placed drive and approach onto the green, Muninger’s chances of ending the tournament in regulation fell apart when he needed four more strokes on the green to close out his round.
“Just a two-putt par would have been great,” Muninger said. “I blew the first one by a foot or two, and then I had a really slick little downhill going left to right, which was a tough putt, but nothing I should have had too much of a problem with. I came up out of it and it ended up rolling down the hill.”
Two more strokes later, and Muninger’s round had gone from pleasing to upsetting.
Meanwhile Harder — the co-leader with Muninger after the first round of play at the Emporia Country Club on Saturday with a 1-under 71 — recovered from a shaky front nine on Sunday to storm back into contention, which included a birdie on 18 after he hit the pin with his approach shot.
“I told myself that I couldn’t just give it away,” Harder said.
One group ahead of Harder and Muninger, Reimer fired off the best round of the entire tournament with a second-round, 2-under 70 that moved him into the thick of the race for the title. His round featured birdies on 11, 13 and 16 on the back nine alone.
Watching from the clubhouse patio as Muninger missed putt after putt on the 18th green, Reimer said he could feel his excitement building.
“I thought to myself, ‘I could be in contention here,’” Reimer said. “I didn’t think my score would be enough because Barry shoots really good out here, but it was.”
Indeed it was good enough, good enough to force a playoff, as Reimer, Harder and Muninger set out to determine the City Golf champion in a winner-take-all showdown.
Beginning on hole No. 1, all three golfers hit straight drives off the tee. However, Muninger offered even more dramatics — and perhaps a display of luck — when his drive bounced off a tree just to the left of the fairway, but instead of dropping into the rough behind the tree, the ball ricocheted out into the middle of the fairway.
“That was pretty fortunate,” Muninger said. “It could just as easily have dropped straight down, and I would have been in pretty bad shape.”
Each golfer made it onto the green safely in two, with Reimer facing about a 25-foot right-to-left putt, Harder looking at a downhill 10-footer and Muninger about 5 feet away for his chance at birdie.
Reimer appeared to have his putt keyed in, but the ball just nicked the right edge of the cup and scooted about 5 feet long.
“It was pretty straight. I played it on the right edge and it stayed there,” Reimer said. “I hit it a little firm and lipped it a little. I hit a good putt, I thought.”
Harder was next to try, but like Reimer, he got close enough to make it interesting only to watch his ball breeze past the cup.
“I thought I made that putt,” Harder said, “and it went right where I wanted it to, it just broke a little too much.”
With the victory that had already eluded him once in his sights, Muninger took his time lining up a putt that he said he “had a tough time getting a read on.”
After studying the break, Muninger determined a straight-on approach to be the best route, and he knocked in his putt for birdie to give him the City Golf title.
“I hit a good putt and it went straight,” he said. “It feels just as good if not maybe even a little bit better to walk up the 18th and feel like you’ve got it and then just give it all away, and then get it back again. It feels pretty good.”
After a one-year hiatus, Muninger put himself back on top of the City Golf leaderboard after winning the tournament in 2005.
In his place last year was Dave Watts, who did not participate in this year’s tournament because he was playing in Kansas City at a tournament in memory of the father of one of his friends.
After watching last year’s tournament because of a self-disqualification for unknowingly playing with an extra club in his bag, Muninger said playing in and winning the Men’s City Golf Championship had been a goal the entire past year, adding that the way Harder and Reimer played made winning the tournament even more special.
“I’ve been looking forward to this for a while,” Muninger said. “Fletcher and Eric are both really good golfers and fun to play with. They definitely made me play harder, that’s for sure.”
Jan Jefferis won the first flight with a two day 164, while Steve Shaw won the second flight with a two-round 174.