A familiar face was the last one standing when the 84th Chippeways match play golf tournament concluded on the 17th green at Maysville Country Club on Sunday.
Eric Schumacher beat Drew Traxel 3 and 1 to claim his sixth title and first since 2016.
“It feels great. I like to joke with people that it seems that I win every four or five years and if you look back at when I started, that’s kind of the way it happened. I had no expectations this week of doing anything because I hadn’t been playing much and I’m battling a pinched nerve in my back,” said Schumacher. “I feel blessed. I have no words for it.”
Schumacher entered the tournament with the most titles, also coming out victorious in 1995, 1996, 2007, 2013 and 2016. This year’s was a little sweeter than the other ones, however.
“You never know when your last one is going to come. You may never win again,” said Schumacher. “To have this today, I feel very fortunate.”
It was far from his best round at Maysville Country Club, frequently finding ways out of tough shots to maintain a one or two hole lead through most of the match. Schumacher went 1-up when Traxel bogeyed the second hole, and managed to hang on to the lead despite putting his tee shot near the water on the next hole.
A birdie from Traxel on the fifth hole evened the match, before Schumacher went 1-up on No. 7 and increased his lead to three holes heading to No. 11.
Traxel put his approach on the green on the next hole and finished with a birdie, before cutting the then five-time champion’s lead to just one hole heading to No. 13.
“I just wanted to keep the match going as long as I could,” said Traxel. “I wasn’t playing very good. He wasn’t playing very good. It was kind of an endurance test to see who could stay alive a little longer.”
For Schumacher, the 12th hole was one of his worst, if not the worst, he had in the match. He bounced back to put his tee shot on No. 13 less than a foot from the hole to go back to 2-up, after hitting a similar shot in his semifinal match earlier in the day against John Hoh.
“Twelve really made me mad. I hit a bad drive, hit a bad second shot and then the third shot I didn’t think was too bad, then it kicked in the bunker and I was boiling. Nobody likes to just give shots away – Drew too – but I was mad. I’ll put it that way,” said Schumacher. “But I hit it about three foot this morning on 13 and then to have it come up there three or four inches – yeah.”
On the next hole, Schumacher’s second shot found the bunker while Traxel put his approach close enough to the pin to take the hole and cut Schumacher’s lead to one once again.
The two halved the 15th hole and Traxel’s second shot on No. 16 sailed over the green, allowing Schumacher to two-putt to go back to 2-up heading to the 17th hole. It’s where he dropped last year’s championship match to Jackson Frame, but this year closed out the 3 and 1 victory.
Schumacher beat Eric Davis in the first round on Friday and Joe Traxel in the quarterfinals on Saturday. He knocked off Hoh earlier Sunday in the semifinal round.
Traxel’s path to the championship pitted him against two former winners. He beat Christian Vining in the first round before taking down two-time champion Robert Walton in the quarterfinals. He beat Frame, the two-time defending champion, in the semifinals.
“I went 18 holes day one against Christian Vining. I was 1-up going into 18 and everybody had me losing, but I won. We went 16 [Saturday], but it was a lot like today – just 1-up and 1-down – and then this morning it was 18 with Jackson,” said Traxel.
Other flight winners included Rodney Tolle in the first flight, D.J. Hodge in the second flight, Chris Braxla in the third flight and Bob Grutza in the foruth flight.
“The tournament went off way better than we could have ever hoped looking at the forecast on Tuesday. It did not look like it was going to be a pleasant weekend at all and it was just amazing. Somebody upstairs is definitely looking out for us,” said pro shop manager Teron Bay. “We looked at the radar yesterday at about 11:30, and literally Mason County was the only place in the state of Kentucky you could be playing golf.
“We had about eight or nine total matches that went extra holes, so I think we got everything right as far as the pairings and putting everybody in the right flights and obviously we had a great championship match between Drew and Eric,” added Bay. “It was a high level.”
CHAMPIONSHIP FLIGHT
Sunday, June 23
Semifinals
Drew Traxel def. Jackson Frame
Eric Schumacher def. John Hoh
Consolation Bracket
Christian Vining def. Chase Thornhill
Austin Swentzel def. Josh Weber
Championship
Eric Schumacher def. Drew Traxel
Consolation Bracket
Christian Vining def. Austin Swentzel
FIRST FLIGHT
Sunday, June 23
Semifinals
Seth Vice def. Jamey High
Rodney Tolle def. Jason Howard
Consolation Bracket
Chad Haggard def. Kenny Ray Haggard
Nathan Cracraft def. Jeff Cracraft
Championship
Rodney Tolle def. Seth Vice
Consolation Bracket
Nathan Cracraft def. Chad Haggard
SECOND FLIGHT
Sunday, June 23
Semifinals
David Goldman def. Tom Brieske
DJ Hodge def. Clint Ravencraft
Consolation Bracket
Jacob Pell def. Lee Bradley
Sean Neeley def. Hunt Thornhill
Championship
DJ Hodge def. David Goldman
Consolation
Sean Neeley def. Jacob Pell
THIRD FLIGHT
Sunday, June 23
Semifinals
Al Faris def. Jim Thornhill
Chris Braxla def. Mike Marinaro
Consolation Bracket
Alan Harrison def. Kelly Caudill
Bob Canada def. Simon Watt
Championship
Chris Braxla def. Al Faris
Consolation Bracket
Alan Harrison def. Bob Canada
FOURTH FLIGHT
Sunday, June 23
Semifinals
Joe Thornhill def. John Brooks
Bob Grutza def. Gerry Manning
Consolation Bracket
Steve Silverstein def. Robert Forrester
Dan Thompson def. John Estill
Championship
Bob Grutza def. Joe Thornhill
Consolation Bracket
Dan Thompson def. Steve Silverstein
