Sohl captures 104th Amateur

Brock Ehler left and Greg Sohl in scorer's tent after the tourney. Bottom picture is top junior finisher an Amateur runner-up Mitchell Klooz

Wahoo's Greg Sohl eagled the 517-yard par five 9th hole at the Scotts Bluff Country Club Sunday. That jump started a final round that began with eight straight pars and finished with three birdies on the back nine and catapulted him to the title of the 104th Nebraska Amateur Championship.

"I wasn't playing bad," said Sohl of his first eight holes. "But I hit a terrific second shot on the 9th and I just got in a good groove after that."

Sohl, who led after the each of the first two rounds, fell back to fourth after a two over par 74 Saturday.

"It was my worst round of the tournament," the Arizona junior college golfer said. "But I knew I still had a chance to win the tournament if I had a good round today."

Sohl enterd the final round one shot behind three golfers, Mitchell Klooz of Laurel, Paul Mohr of Scottsbluff and John Sajevic of Fremont. Klooz, the Junior Amateur champ stayed close all day, but fell two shots short after firing a final round 71.

Mitchell's Brock Ehler also mounted a challenge. He had a two under round for the day and ended up three shots back. "I hit the ball pretty well," the new Mitchell girls basketball coach said. "But the putts weren't dropping the way I needed them to. You don't win may tournaments if you can't putt."

Ehler, who was paired with Sohl in the final round was pleased with how he performed and the support he received. "I had a lot of family and friends and family follow me today. I appreciate how they kept me focused and all of the support they gave me."

Mohr ended up fourth. He started his day with a birdie that put him in the lead at six under, but five bogey's followed before he closed with two birdies on the final four holes to finish three under for the tournament.

"I had a poor stretch for a while," Mohr said. "But Jeff Klein help me refocus and I finished strong. It was a great tournament and it was fun playing in the final group with John Sajevic."

Sajevic from Fremont, the 1989 Amateur champ, fell down the leaderboard to a sixth place tie with 2002 titlist Ryan Nieftfeldt of Elkhorn. Sajevic struggled to a six over par score Sunday. Nietfeldt was five over for the day.

One other local golfer had a top ten finish. Gering's Austin Miller tied for 8th. He was two over for the day and two over for the tournament.

Scottsbluff High School's Andrew Holloway struggled on Sunday. He was just two off of the lead entering the day but came in with a nine over par 81 and ended up tied for 14th. Holloway finished one shot behind two-time defending champ Andy Sajevic of Fremont.

Holloway's high school teammate also had an 81 on Sunday. He tied for 40th place at 16 over par. That tied him with Charlie Hadenfeldt of Gering, who was five over for the day, and with Tyler Zoellner of Ogallala who shot a 74.

Gering's Tyler Barry shot a 77 Sunday and finished 11 over for the tourney.

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