In search of a new putter?
Tanner Coble just might have a sell for you.
Frustrated by his putting all day long in the third and final round of the Kansas Junior Amateur Golf Championships Thursday at the Emporia Municipal Golf Course, Coble considered taking drastic measures once his round was complete.
“My putter’s going up on eBay tonight,” Coble said jokingly as he walked along the fairway of the 16th hole.
Coble ended his day with his worst round of the tournament, shooting a 7-over 78 to finish with a three-day score of 225 to come in a tie for 38th place. Kyle Smell of Overland Park won the tournament with a 5-under 208, the only golfer out of the entire field of more than 200 golfers to finish all three rounds at par or better.
For Coble, his round on Thursday was a fitting cap to his tournament, as he said he struggled with his short game in some aspect in each round.
“I just couldn’t make any putts,” he said. “If I would have made some putts, I think I could’ve been a little bit closer to the leaders. I guess that’s what happens.”
He did, however, take solace in the way he closed out his round.
He was at 6-over through 14 holes, but recovered nicely over the next three holes, going par, birdie, par on holes 15, 16 and 17. But an out-of-bounds tee shot on 18 — the ball landed less than 5 inches out of bounds — forced him to finish his round with a double bogey.
Though he was happy with his late flurry of solid play, Coble said it still was a struggle to keep his putting game under control.
“On the back nine, I tried everything. I tried different strokes, I tried holding the club different, I tried standing different, and nothing worked. I three-putted three greens on the back nine, and that didn’t help,” he said.
“I just had to keep a positive attitude. I probably would have shot worse if I didn’t keep a positive attitude.”
Despite his final round, Coble still was the only area golfer to make the cut after the first two rounds on Tuesday and Wednesday. Though he didn’t finish as high up on the leaderboard as he wanted, he still said he enjoyed the experience of playing the Kansas Junior Amateur on his home course.
“Overall, I was pretty happy with how I played,” Coble said. “I had fun, and that’s all that counts.
Kansas Junior Amateur
Championships
Emporia Municipal Golf Course
Final Round
Par — 71; 213 (3 rounds)
Top 10
1. Kyle Smell, Overland Park 70-67-71 208
2. Ben Fitzpatrick, Overland Park 74-69-67 210
3. Ben Lowman, Manhattan 70-67-76 213
T4. Alex Hofmann, Overland Park 70-72-73 215
T4. Andrew Foulston, Wichita 73-71-71 215
T4. Harrison Higgs, Overland Park 71-73-71 215
T4. Jeff Bell, Wichita 70-71-74 215
T4. Jeremy Gant, Chanute 71-76-68 215
T4. Korbin Kuehn, Overland Park 73-71-71 215
T4. Zach Sanders, Overland Park 73-70-72 215
Others
T38. Tanner Coble, Olpe 74-73-78 225