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Kubick captures match play title
Lincoln golfer rallies by
winning six straight holes
Paced by a six hole run midway through the 36 hole championship match, Joe Kubick won the 2004 Nebraska Junior Match Play Championship at Heritage Hills Golf Course on Friday.
Kubick, a senior-to-be at Lincoln Southeast, defeated Phil Hranac, Kearney Catholic's 2004 Class C1 Champion, 3 and 1, to become the only player to win the Junior Match Play twice in a row.
"I really wanted to win bad because no one had ever won two years in a row. There's a lot of pressure. All of my friends called last night," Kubick, the 2002 and 2003 Class A runner-up, said. "If I would've lost today, the drive home would've been terrible. But now it'll be okay, I'm really energized now."
Kubick showcased that lightning right after Hranac built up a two hole lead after the 17th hole when Kubick stormed back to take holes 18, 19, 20, 21, 22 and 23.
"I just wanted to take it one hole at a time and I did," Kubick said. "I won the first hole, the second hole and so on."
Phil came back to tie the match on the the match's 30th hole, but Kubick closed him out with a birdie on the 35th hole, Heritage Hills par-5 no. 17.
Besides defending his championship, Kubick had a little added stimulus for winning.
"Someone told me coming into this week that I wouldn't win because one of the McCook kids would win for sure. So that was that was some more motivation," said Kubick, who defeated McCook's Brandon Crick in the quarterfinals.
Kubick complimented Heritage Hills on its originality, even though the six-plus rounds he walked in three days took all that he had.
"This course is different than anything I've every played with the hills and wind. Very tiring," said Kubick.
Kubick's win does not only grant him the champions' trophy but also a couple trips down South as he is eligible in the Optimist's national tournament at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach, Fla. this summer and next.
Nebraska Golf Association executive director Craig Ames was also bursting with praisings for Heritage Hills, club professional Lee Maiden and superintendent Bill Bieck.
"The tournament goes a lot better when you have a golf course that is conscience to how to hold a championship," Ames said. "They have paid attention to detail and made the golf course in great shape. We had no conflicts all week, it has been one of our better tournaments."