Top dogs remain in loaded Men’s Executive field

Low seeds look to dethrone defending champion

By Jared Rubado jrubado@echopress.com

The final two days of the Men’s Executive match play tournament are shaping up to be riveting.

After two rounds, six of the top eight seeds remain in a packed field of golfers.

One of those men is Troy Johnson, the threetime defending champion. While he looks sharp as ever, competitors such as Bryan Hoops, Dan Johnson, Chad Bisson and more look to knock off the king.

Hoops and Andrew Petersen advanced to the quarterfinal round while golfing out of the same cart. They will go head-to-head on Friday afternoon in the first pairing starting on hole No. 1. Dan Johnson looks to keep his blazing pace up when he takes on Daryl Schomer. Schomer upset fifth-seeded Patrick Sieve on Thursday by a score of 3-2.

In a field of low seeds, there’s one underdog story left. Breton Stout, the 23rd-seed, will get a chance to take down Troy Johson on Friday after beating Dave Fingalsen 3-1. Joe Sauer and Chad Bisson held true to their previous three rounds to advance as well.

Here’s how the Men’s Executive tournament looks after Thursday’s matches.

Hoops def. Champlin, 6-5

Bryan Hoops has been on a roll through the first two rounds of match play, and a comeback effort from Herbie Champlin couldn’t derail his course.

Hoops made par on the first four holes of the day to go up by three.

That was before a pair of bogeys and a couple of pars and a birdie from Champlin cut the lead to one. On No. 8, Hoops birdied to go 2-up before a par on No. 9 increased the lead to three.

The back nine was all

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