Title…Wiebe Rallies to Claim First CGA Championship

Colorado Avid Golfer

AURORA — Perhaps it’s happened before in the 110-year history of the Colorado Golf Association Match Play Championship, but certainly very rarely in the title match, and Gunner Wiebe said it was the turning point in his victory Friday at CommonGround Golf Course.

Wiebe won a hole despite making a triple bogey, and he used his good fortune to help turn a deficit into a tournament-clinching win. The 21-year-old from Cherry Hills Country Club, who never led until after 31 holes of the 36-hole finale, rallied for a 2 and 1 victory over University of Denver golfer Klinton Krieger and claimed his first CGA championship. 

With assistance from his caddie/dad—Mark Wiebe, a two-time winner on both the PGA Tour and the Champions Tour—Gunner Wiebe came back from being 3 down during the morning round. After four-putting the 19th hole, the University of San Diego golfer played the final 16 holes in 7 under par to overtake his friend and fellow college senior-to-be.

Krieger, whose father Ken won the CGA Match Play title in 1977, was 3 up after 13 holes, but lost the next three holes and all of his lead. During that stretch, Krieger took a quadruple-bogey 8 on the 15th hole, but only lost when Wiebe sank a 12-foot putt for triple bogey and Krieger missed an 11-footer that would have halved the hole.

Still, Krieger rebuilt a lead and was 2 up through 22 holes. But after a birdie by Wiebe on the 23rd hole, neither player was more than 1 up again until Wiebe closed out the match. Krieger, playing in his first CGA Match Play finale, bogeyed three of the last five holes to allow Wiebe to gain the upper hand for good. Wiebe closed things out with a two-putt par on the 35th hole, where Krieger made bogey.

With the victory, Wiebe puts his name on the CGA Match Play trophy alongside those of U.S. Open champions Hale Irwin and Steve Jones, as well as longtime PGA Tour players Brandt Jobe and Kevin Stadler.

The year-old CommonGround course, owned and operated by the CGA and the Colorado Women’s Golf Association, was hosting its first CGA championship. The CWGA Match Play tournament will be held at CommonGround Aug. 2-5