Zmetrovich upsets 18-time champion Kilgore at Tedesco Club Championship

After building a 4-point lead on 18-time champion Cy Kilgore with nine holes to play, Mike Zmetrovich held it together and won the Tedesco Club Championship, 1-up, at Tedesco Country Club in Marblehead Sunday.
?It feels great,” Zmetrovich said. “(Kilgore) is a great competitor and he?s always in the mix.”
Zmetrovich won holes 1, 4, and 6 with pars and took the 9th hole with a birdie to build a lead. But Kilgore came right back on 10, halving the next three holes to keep himself in the hunt. Zmetrovich then birdied 13 to go up by four with five holes to play.
Kilgore gave Zmetrovich all he could handle down the stretch, winning three holes in a row to cut the deficit to just 1 with two holes to play. Zmetrovich had a chance to win it on the 17th green, but his putt slid by the left edge and kept Kilgore alive. Kilgore missed his par putt to halve the hole however, and was unable to pick up a crucial stroke.
On the 18th, both players were on the green in two shots. Kilgore dropped his shot 14 feet from the hole, while Zmetrovich had a much tougher 30-foot putt. Kilgore had a chance to even the match with a long birdie putt, but it slid by the right edge of the cup and Zmetrovich clinched the win.
?He?s always good to play with,” Zmetrovich said of Kilgore, who has won Tedesco championships over a span of four decades. “I have great respect for him. I?m just glad I came out on the good side today.”Mike Alongi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at @m_alongi.