Mike Grosdidier, left, sizes up partner Gary Lucas’ putt on the fringe of the 15th hole at Alvamar Public during the Masters Division of the Kansas Four-Ball Championship. The two advanced Thursday to today’s finals.

The 15-foot putt to a challenging pin placement on the 17th green of Alvamar public had about a three-foot, right-to-left break to it. Mike Grosdidier read it and stroked it perfectly, and he and partner Gary Lucas eliminated their opponents, David Byrne and Michael Cutshall, 2 and 1, to advance to today’s 7:50 a.m. title match in the Masters Division of the Kansas Four-Ball Championship.

At the conclusion of Thursday’s match, all the men, who clearly enjoyed each other’s company while competing, exchanged handshakes and pleasantries.

That hasn’t always been the case through the years when Grosdidier runs somebody from a competition.

For example, as Baldwin City legend would have it — which is another way of saying as Baker basketball coach Rick Weaver spins the story — way back when Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari coached the Kansas University junior varsity in a road game against the Baker Univeristy JV, Grosdidier was one of the referees, the one who ejected Calipari from the game during the second half.

Grosdidier laughed and confirmed the story when asked if it were true.

“It was a typical basketball game where one team is playing a 2-1-2 soft zone and the other team is pressing the whole time,” Grosdidier said. “Calipari thought he was the reincarnation of Larry Brown, and he was barking the whole time. He walks by me at halftime and says, ‘I’ve never seen a half where there were only six foul calls.’ I said, ‘Coach, you just did.’ That ticked him off. The second half starts, and he kept barking, kept barking. I whacked him with about 12 minutes left.”

Asked if he ever ran into Coach Cal again, Grosdidier said, “No.”

Has he rooted for Calipari’s teams through the years?

“No,” he said, identifying himself as a KU fan.

A resident of Baldwin City, Grosdidier, 54, owns the Mike Grosdidier Insurance Agency, 2400 Iowa Street, in Lawrence. Lucas, his regular golf partner, is an insurance man in Topeka and a terrific striker of the golf ball.

Grosdidier said he took up golf at Alvamar Public in 1968, the year the course opened. He played at Lawrence High and then Emporia State.

Grosdidier and Lucas won two matches Thursday to advance to today’s final against Michael Rack of Lawrence and Wichita’s Mark Steiner.

The two Open Division semifinal matches tee off at 7:30 a.m., and the title match is scheduled for a 12:30 p.m. tee time.

In one semifinal, KU golfers Bobby Knowles and Andrew Storm will face Brett Iliff and Michael Schnegelberger of UMKC. In the other semifinal, Washburn Unversity’s Matt Ewald and Josh Taylor of UMKC will compete against Kansas State golfers Kyle and Curtis Yonke.