Kerr loses to Sanger in Match Play final

Voorheesville

Jeremy Kerr achieved the biggest upset of the Northeastern New York PGA's Match Play Championship on Wednesday, but he wasn't able to finish the deal and capture the grand prize.

Kerr, in his 11th year as head pro at Mohawk, defeated eight-time reigning NENYPGA Player of the Year Scott Berliner of Hiland in the semifinals with a birdie on the 19th hole. Both players shot 6-under 66 over the regulation 18 holes at the Colonie Golf and Country Club.

That victory set up a meeting with Chris Sanger, head pro at Woodstock, in the final. Sanger won the first two holes and never trailed, finishing off the match with a 15-foot birdie on 17 and a 2-and-1 victory over Kerr.

Sanger, 33, won four matches over two days to claim his second NENYPGA major, having won the 2015 Donald Ross Classic. The clinching birdie was only his second of the round, but he put up 14 pars to neutralize Kerr, seeking his first major title since winning the 2003 Match Play.

"I didn't try to change how I played at all in all four matches," Sanger said. "I tried to play pretty conservative — hit to the middle of the greens if I could and lag putts. I wasn't trying to make any birdies, really. I just wanted to play steady.

"This morning, with Scott and Jeremy, they were both 4 or 5 under par. I was around even, so if I would have played them in the morning, I'd probably lose."

Kerr, 46, would have liked to carry over some of eight birdies he carded against Berliner.

"That was the only way to beat Scott Berliner, to play like that," said Kerr, who won the semifinal match with a 12-foot putt on the first extra hole. "There was no way around it. He's just so good. He's been so good for so long."

Against Sanger, a former assistant at Red Hook, Kerr missed short par putts on the first two...