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Klabunde limps to SOGC win By Kris Henry Updated: Sep 01, 2022 09:57 PM A A 6 View all photos Two-time defending senior men’s champion recoups from fall enough to advance A funny thing happened on the way toward Kevin Klabunde potentially securing a 13th title in the Southern Oregon Golf Championships. Well, not funny. More frightening, really. Fortunately for the Medford golfer, like a Timex watch, he can take a licking and keep on ticking. Despite a heavily secured right ankle and a bruised ego, Klabunde battled through it all Thursday to open play in the senior men’s championship division with a 4-and-2 win over good friend Mike Finnell at Rogue Valley Country Club. Klabunde, a two-time defending champion, has won five of the last seven senior men’s titles and eight overall. But as late as about a half-hour before his scheduled opening tee time Thursday, his ability to be able to compete was in doubt — all because curiosity got the best of him about 2 o’clock Wednesday afternoon. “We’re in the process of building a pool house out by our pool and they’re in the excavation stage,” Klabunde said, “and they’d uncovered some conduit and stuff. I wanted to see what they were doing and I jumped down from our pool deck a couple feet down, but I didn’t see their survey line and I tripped on it and came down hard on my ankle and turned it pretty good and jammed a finger and scraped up my arm. “It’s not something I’m really proud of,” he added with a laugh, “but I got it all bundled up and it took me three pairs of shoes to see which ones I could get on my foot after all the bundling.” Even then, Klabunde wasn’t quite sure whether he’d be able to compete in the 93rd annual match play golf event. “I really thought that I was going to have to withdraw,” he admitted, “but I just stayed off it all (Wednesday) afternoon and evening and iced it. My friend Rich Owens is a surgeon on feet and ankles and he gave me a couple of tips, and there was a lot of Ibuprofen.” Thursday morning, Klabunde said he took a few swings without a club after getting all wrapped up to see if he could put weight on the ankle and seemed like he’d be able to give it a go. Even so, he only got to the club about 20 minutes before he was set to tee off and hit very few practice shots to save on wear and tear. Fortunately, Klabunde was able to win the first two holes of the match against Finnell, and a birdie on the fourth hole put him 3 up and capable of just grinding through the match. “It kind of hurt to walk but I was able to win my match,” said Klabunde, who is coming off a men’s super senior win at the Rogue Valley Stroke Play Championships after posting rounds of 67 and 70. “I got that early lead and just hung on. “It affected my swing a little bit,” he added of the injury. “I kept pulling shots, but mainly it just hurt to walk.” Fortunately, Klabunde said good friend Terry Anderson offered to “ferry me around” as his caddie Thursday and he relied as much as possible on his golf cart. “We struggled through and got it done,” added Klabunde, who also won the 2001 men’s regular title, 1996 and 1998 junior-senior title and 2019 super senior title. “We’ll just take it day by day and see what happens.” Also advancing in men’s senior to Friday’s quarterfinals were John Ellsworth, Ross Brownlie, Brad Bills, Rick Dollarhide, Mitch Weisberger, Marshall Holman and Todd Dixon. The women’s division essentially went by seeding, with defending champion Johnna Nealy winning 6 and 5 over Sandy Day to open her bid for a fifth title. Also advancing to Saturday’s quarterfinals were Susie Hammitt, Marla Parmele, Trina Jones, medalist Kiana Oshiro, Staesha Flock, Stephanie Johns and Terry Levis. In the men’s championship bracket, medalist Dan Engle won to set up an intriguing second-round match with Cameron Smith, who finished in a first-place tie with Mark Wilson at the City Championships but lost on the fourth hole of a playoff. Wilson also advanced Thursday to set up a potential rematch, if all goes well for each player, in Saturday’s quarterfinals. With not all scores reported as of press time, the only lower seeds on the men’s side to advance were 21st-seeded Ben Purtzer, who won 1 up over No. 12 Marcus Idiart, and 28th-seeded Jordan Jenkins, who posted a similar score against No. 5 Travis Campoy. Purtzer and Jenkins will meet in the second round. In the junior-senior men’s bracket, the seedings held to form for all but three matches, with the breakdown assuring that a No. 22 seed or higher will be playing in Saturday’s quarterfinals after Craig Fox won 1 up over No. 11 Frank Baracao and Blake Stouder won 4 and 2 over sixth-seeded Jeff Morgan. Fox and Stouder will meet in Friday’s second round. The other lower seed to win was Erik Pedersen, who won 3 and 2 over 13th-seeded David Cuttrell. Highlighting the super senior men’s division bracket were wins by Glen Clark, Gary Rafferty, Jerry Eklund, Lee Oltjenbruns, medalist Scott Tuttle, David George, Gregory Miller and Craig Vogensen. Rafferty and George each won in sudden-death playoffs. Complete scores from all the flights playing Thursday were not available as of press time. The Southern Oregon Golf Championships run through Monday at RVCC. Have a story idea? Reach sports editor Kris Henry at 541-776-4488, [email protected] or via Twitter @Kris_Henry Andy Atkinson / Mail TribuneKevin Klabunde chips onto the green at the 1st hole at the Rogue Valley Country Club Thursday morning. Andy Atkinson / Mail TribuneRick Dollarhide chips to the 3rd green at the Rogue Valley Country Club Thursday morning. Andy Atkinson / Mail TribunePaul Reynolds hits out of the bunker to the 2nd green at the Rogue Valley Country Club Thursday morning. Andy Atkinson / Mail TribuneKevin Klabunde chips to the 3rd green at the Rogue Valley Country Club Thursday morning. Andy Atkinson / Mail TribuneMichael Finnell chips onto the green at the 1st hole at the Rogue Valley Country Club Thursday morning.Michael Finnell Andy Atkinson / Mail TribuneKevin Klabunde sinks a putt from the edge of the green on the 2nd hole at the Rogue Valley Country Club Thursday morning.