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Once even, Klabunde was leavin' Photo by Andrew Mariman / Mail Tribune Medford's Kevin Klabunde stares down this 3-iron shot during Monday's men's championship final at Rogue Valley Country Club. Klabunde rally snaps Smith's streak By DON HUNT Kevin Klabunde was little more than cannon fodder for Tommy Smith during the opening nine holes of the men's championship match at the Southern Oregon Golf Tournament Monday. Klabunde missed five putts inside of 6 feet during the opening nine holes and trailed Smith by five holes in the match-play event. Smith looked like a cinch to win his third straight title and a record fourth overall. But a funny thing happened on the way to a Klabunde calamity and a Smith three-peat. Klabunde found his putting touch, cut his deficit to just two holes following the 18-hole morning round and then dominated the afternoon session to pull out a 6-and-4 victory. "I'm ecstatic," Klabunde, 47, said. "It looked like I was dead in the water after the first nine holes but I made a little change in my putting stroke and that made all the difference." Klabunde, who uses an extra-long putter and implements a claw grip - positioning one hand on top of the putter and the other halfway down the shaft - went to a more upright style on the 10th hole. He was rewarded with a clutch 10-footer for par, enabling him to halve that hole and not fall even further behind. From that point on his putting was extraordinary. "I finally stopped the bleeding on that hole," Klabunde said, "and I had something to feel good about." Klabunde then narrowed the gap to just one hole heading into the 18th hole of the morning round but Smith chipped in from 20 feet for birdie, giving himself a two-hole cushion at the lunch break. But it was all Klabunde in the afternoon. Using a surgeon's touch around the greens, he registered birdies on the first, third, sixth and eighth holes, punctuating his brilliant play with a curling 35-foot putt on the eighth that brought a big roar from the gallery. "My confidence shot way up when that putt went in," Klabunde said. "I had a pretty good feeling about the match at that point." It became even better when Smith three-putted the 18th for bogey, giving Klabunde a 4-hole lead at the turn. To make matters even worse, Smith hit his tee shot out of bounds on the 10th for a double bogey, and then watched Klabunde win his sixth straight hole on the 11th with a 13-foot birdie putt. Now Klabunde was ahead by six holes with seven to play, and he closed Smith out on the 14th when he hit an approach shot within 11/2 feet for a tap-in birdie, his sixth of the afternoon and ninth of the day. "I never really felt comfortable with my putter the entire week," Smith, 33, said. "I had two one-putts in 32 holes today - that won't win the sixth flight. "But give Kevin credit. He struggled early but came on like gangbusters. And once he got the momentum there was no stopping him." Smith entered Monday's contest with a 23-match win streak dating to 1989. He won six matches and the championship that year, then turned professional. Ten years later, Smith regained his amateur status and added titles in 1999 and 2000. He added five more victories this week before his bubble burst. Smith knew his streak was in jeopardy. His wife had a baby four months ago and he came into the tournament having played less than a dozen rounds over the past six months. "To be honest, I was pretty fortunate this week," Smith said. "I played well at times but most of my opponents had below-average rounds when they played me." Klabunde, meanwhile, bagged his first regular men's title after collecting junior-senior crowns in 1996 and '98. He was the regular men's runner-up in '91 and '92. "I came back (to the regular men) because I thought I still had the game to put my name in the winner's column," Klabunde said. "But it was a grind. It always is. There aren't many easy wins out here." A case in point: Klabunde was nearly ousted on the opening day of match play. He had to birdie the final three holes to beat recent South Medford High School graduate Tony Guiliano in sudden death. Four days, five matches and more than 100 holes later, Klabunde was holding the winner's trophy. Reach reporter Don Hunt at 776-4469, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.