Chad Roesler couldn’t let a missed 3-foot putt on the 18th hole of the semifinals be his lasting memory of the Kansas Golf Association Four-Ball Championship.

So on the first playoff hole, Roesler stuck his approach shot within five feet of the pin on hole No. 1 and calmly knocked it in for birdie to defeat 13th-seeded Zach Cleland and Mitch Boles and earn a spot in today’s finals at Alvamar Golf Club.

“I was very disappointed and got to the first playoff hole and just figured, ‘It’s now or never,'” said Roesler, who with teammate Conrad Roberts also had a 1-up victory in Friday’s quarterfinals. “I didn’t want to play any more golf, so I hit one in there that actually ended up being what I wanted. It was a little vindication and I’m glad that it happened. I would hate to have lost missing that putt like that.”

It wasn’t just the missed putt on No. 18 that led to the need for a 19th hole.

After starting 2-down through three holes, former Kansas University golfers Roesler and Roberts rebounded to take a two-hole advantage heading into the final three holes.

The match looked to be wrapped up on the 16th with the second shots for both Cleland and Boles landing short of the green, while Roberts was about seven feet away from a birdie. But Cleland’s chip rattled the pin before dropping into the cup, and Roberts was unable to knock down his putt to halve the hole.

“My putter has been off-and-on all week,” Roberts said. “I’ve been real solid on those 10-footers and in for the most part. … We knew on 16 that they were going to make a good effort at a 3 (for birdie) and even when they both hit short – their short games are so sharp that it’s almost like they’re putting those things.”

Then on 18, Cleland landed a chip shot within a foot of the hole to score par. Roesler put his chip 3 feet from the pin and subsequently lost the hole by pulling the putt.

If playing 37 holes on Friday wasn’t enough, Roesler and Roberts will now face Cameron Bishop and Ty Sanders today in a 36-hole finals match.

“I’m too old for this. This is a lot of golf,” the 34-year-old Roesler said. “To a lot of the people out here we’re kind of the elder statesmen, so it’s kind of neat that we get to play again tomorrow.”

Bishop and Sanders, teammates at Wichita State University, beat fellow Shockers and defending tournament champs Brandon Hermreck and Zechariah Potter, 1-up, to earn a trip to the finals.

“I think it’s always fun to go against teammates because I think we’re obviously always competitive and we play each other all the time in qualifying and tournaments – so it’s fun at the same time,” Sanders said.

Much like the pair of Jayhawks, the Shockers tandem had to go the distance to get past their opponents.

“Going into the match I told Ty that these guys were good putters, so we weren’t going to be able to win with pars like we did in the match before,” Bishop said. “So we gave ourselves chances and we played great; we made putts and did everything right.”

Roberts and Roesler will now attempt to cap off their run through a field of college teams with a 7:30 a.m. tee time against the WSU duo.

“We won’t be able to give them anything. We can’t make any bogeys and just give them the hole,” Roesler said. “We’re going to have to make them earn their wins. And we’re going to have to go out and make more birdies than we have.

“We’ve done a really nice job of making pars and not giving away holes, but we just haven’t made as many birdies as we’re going to need to make tomorrow.”