Wiebe, Krieger To Square Off for CGA Match Play Title

Colorado Avid Golfer

AURORA — On a day when defending champion Steve Ziegler lost, Gunner Wiebe of Cherry Hills Country Club put on quite a display in gaining a berth in the finals of the Colorado Golf Association Match Play Championship at CommonGround Golf Course.
With his father, two-time Champions Tour winner Mark Wiebe, caddying for him, Gunner Wiebe made four eagles and went 15 under par Thursday in winning quarterfinal and semifinal matches. The University of San Diego senior-to-be defeated Alex Gutesha of Meridian Golf Club 3 and 1 in the morning, then dispatched Jim Knous of the Golf Club at Ironbridge 5 and 4 in the afternoon.
Joining Wiebe in Friday’s 36-hole championship match will be Klinton Krieger of Ptarmigan Country Club, a University of Denver golfer. Krieger, whose father Ken won the CGA Match Play title in 1977, advanced with a pair of 3 and 1 victories on Thursday. He defeated Danny Hahn of CommonGround in the quarterfinals and Taylor Stamp of the Broadmoor Golf Club in the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Ziegler, who swept the CGA Match Play and Stroke Play titles in 2009, saw his bid for another CGA championship fall short as Stamp birdied five of the first eight holes and scored a 3 and 2 victory over the Stanford golfer in the quarterfinals. In addition to his CGA success last year, Ziegler advanced to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Amateur.
Wiebe, also a 2009 U.S. Amateur qualifier, recorded two eagles in each of his Thursday victories and was 8 under par through 17 holes of his quarterfinal match, when Gutesha lost despite being 5 under. In the semifinals, Wiebe was 7 under through 14 holes. He holed a wedge from 145 yards for an eagle on the par-4 10th hole, then drained a 25-foot putt on No. 11 to make it back-to-back eagles.

Krieger, a senior-to-be at DU, was all square with Stamp through 14 holes of their semifinal, but won the next three by going birdie-birdie-par to close out the match.
Friday’s title match will begin at 7 a.m.   
CGA Match Play Championship Results
At Par-71 CommonGround GC in Aurora

QUARTERFINALS
Taylor Stamp, Broadmoor GC def. Steve Ziegler, Ranch CC 3 and 2
Klinton Krieger, Ptarmigan CC def. Danny Hahn, CommonGround GC 3 and 1
Gunner Wiebe, Cherry Hills CC def. Alex Gutesha, Meridian GC 3 and 1
Jim Knous, GC at Ironbridge def. Martin Prazak, Colorado GC 3 and 1

SEMIFINALS
Klinton Krieger, Ptarmigan CC def. Taylor Stamp, Broadmoor GC 3 and 1
Gunner Wiebe, Cherry Hills CC def. Jim Knous, GC at Ironbridge 5 and 4

FRIDAY’S 36-HOLE FINAL
7 a.m. — Gunner Wiebe, Cherry Hills CC vs. Klinton Krieger, Ptarmigan CC