PALM VALLEY — From 16 to eight and after Thursday’s Day 2 action at the Life Begins at 40 golf tournament, the championship field got narrowed down to four.
Ron Kilby, Chris Wicker, Bill Werley Jr., Frank Cohen, Richard Hageman, Richard Wilson, Ray Iler and L.D. Clopton were the big winners on Day 1. However, after Thursday’s trimming, only Kilby, Hageman, Cohen and Clopton survived to move on to today’s semifinals.
Today’s championship flight matchups, which tee off at 8 a.m., will feature Kilby vs. Cohen and Hageman vs. Clopton.
On Thursday, Kilby defeated Wicker to move into the final four, while Cohen beat Werley to set up his meeting with Kilby.
In the other championship pairing, Hageman defeated Richard Wilson while Clopton notched a victory against last year’s runner-up Iler.
Iler’s loss to Clopton means there will be no rematch of last year’s championship.
Besides nine-time LBA 40 tournament champion Kilby, Hageman won the tournament in 2007 while Clopton won the title twice in 2013 and 2011.
OUTSIDE THE CHAMPIONSHIP: In the first flight division, Jeffrey Scoggins will face Andrew Howorth, while Sergio Zarate takes on Marc Saldana in today’s semifinals.
In the second flight, Nestor Martinez meets Dale Shaffer while Don Franklin moves on to play Daniel B. Strickland today.
Rudy Gomez will face Rusty Hall and Carter Gresham meets up against Durrell Lovell in the third flight final four.
In the fourth flight, Roland Drechsel takes on former NFL kicker and Harlingen native, Leo Araguz while Tony Alford meets Andrew Davis.
Finally, in the fifth flight semis, Allan Colwick will face Jim Hearn and Michael Lucak goes up against Jerry Schussler.
