U.S. Four-Ball: Marlton's Vannucci & Kwon advance to Semifinals
As Vince Kwon and Troy Vannucci have advanced on through match play of the U.S. Four-Ball Championship, their confidence grows – and for good reason. They have a date in Wednesday morning’s semifinal round by virtue of their Tuesday quarterfinal victory over Matt Parziale and Dusty Aikens of Massachusetts, 3 and 2. The duo from Marlton went wire-to-wire, and after winning the first hole were never tied through the remainder of the match. They will face Todd Mitchell from Illinois and Scott Harvey of North Carolina (who won the 2014 U.S. Mid-Amateur title) in this morning’s semifinals, beginning at 7:00 a.m. local time.
The exclamation point of Kwon and Vannucci’s quarterfinal match came on the par 5, No. 15 when Kwon landed his second shot on the green, 50 yards from the hole – and two-putted for a birdie. It put the tandem three-up with three holes to play, and when the sides halved the par 4, sixteenth hole, Kwon and Vannucci were on their way to the semifinals.
The two friends, who met when both were members of Little Mill Country Club, understand that confidence breeds success. Stated the 25 year old Kwon, "We've played in a lot of tournaments together so we know each other's game. We're not complicating anything. If the other guy needs help, we're each there for him. Our confidence was pretty high this afternoon."
Vannucci, age 27, pointed out the added challenge of the often tricky wind: "The conditions this afternoon were totally different than in the morning. The wind picked up so you had to keep it low and out of the wind. We thought the wind was a benefit; we’re both ball strikers and not pounders – so with the wind, we used more strategy and were more precise.”
Wednesday’s semifinal match will be against the duo of Mitchell and Harvey, who have advanced to match play in each of the five years of the U.S. Four-Ball Championship.
