It was a pairing worthy of the final match in the Francis Hagan Match Play Championship.

Parker Eshelman photo

Dave McDonald chips out of a sand trap on the ninth hole during the quarterfinals of the Francis Hagan Match Play Championship yesterday at Lake of the Woods Golf Course. McDonald topped Joe Bellmer — whom he had beaten in the final match on two previous occasions — 3-and-2 to advance to today’s semifinals.

David McDonald vs. Joe Bellmer.

Between them, they’d earned five titles and four runner-up finishes in the 14-year history of the tournament, and in fact, two of McDonald’s four final-round victories came at Bellmer’s expense.

But this year’s bracket had the two match-play heavyweights trading shots in yesterday’s quarterfinals with McDonald pulling out a 3-and-2 victory on a steamy afternoon at Lake of the Woods Golf Course. It was McDonald’s third win in four head-to-head meetings with Bellmer.

"Joe’s always tough," McDonald said. "I love playing with him. You know, for the most part, what you get. ... You better play solid and try to get out of it as quickly as you can, don’t give him any chances."

For the most part, McDonald did exactly that, opening with four straight pars. With Bellmer making a few uncharacteristic mistakes that led to bogeys on Nos. 3 and 4, he inherited a 2-up lead.

McDonald got away with a tee shot that rolled right of the cart path on the par-4 fifth when Bellmer also sailed his ball that direction. Both players had to punch out underneath some overhanging tree branches and came up short of the green, leading to bogeys.

But McDonald quickly regrouped with a birdie on No. 6 after hopping his approach onto the green, about 18 feet from the hole, to take a 3-up lead.

After halving No. 7, he looked ready to deliver the knockout blow when he dropped his second shot about 4 feet from the cup. But his birdie attempt came up short, giving Bellmer a chance to rally.

He almost did, using back-to-back birdies at Nos. 9 and 10 to crawl to 1-down.

"I couldn’t get any more birdies to go after that," said Bellmer, who dropped to 1-3 in head-to-head meetings with McDonald.

The two-time defending champion rolled in a birdie on No. 12 and halved the next three holes, putting Bellmer in a position where he had to win No. 16 to extend the match.

Things became even more dire when McDonald hit his second shot onto the green on the par-5. Bellmer needed to hole out for eagle as he had in a 3-and-2 victory over Brett Hecker earlier in the day. But expecting him to do so twice was too much to ask.

When McDonald rolled his first putt within a foot, Bellmer conceded the match.

After beating the veteran Bellmer, McDonald must fend off two of three younger players if he’s to capture his record fifth title.

First up is Dan Frost, a 2000 Hickman graduate, whom he’ll meet in today’s second semifinal at 7:07 a.m. Frost needed a birdie on the last hole to secure a 1-up victory in his third-round match against Mike Wilson Sr. then picked up a 2-and-1 victory over recent Hickman graduate and Missouri signee Chris Johnson in the quarterfinals.

Frost, a member of the Lincoln University golf team, rolled in a 10-footer for birdie on No. 7 to take a 3-up lead, was 4-up after nine and held on down the stretch.

Former Hickman teammates Nick Wilson and D.J. Chung advanced to the other semifinal, set to begin at 7 a.m.

Wilson, the tournament’s top seed, eked out a 1-up win against Travis Teuton then routed Southern Boone graduate Nathan Sprague to reach the semifinals for the first time. Wilson, who recently completed his junior year at Hickman, made birdies at 1, 2, 4 and 5 to take a 5-up lead.

"He wasn’t playing that bad," Wilson said. "I just got lucky and had a few putts go in. ... Four out of five birdies is going to wear anybody out."

Sprague couldn’t regroup and fell 6 and 5.

Chung seemed poised to cruise to a victory almost as convincing in his semifinal match against John Spencer. A birdie on No. 11 gave the 2005 Hickman graduate a 3-up lead against the final weekend’s elder statesman, who proudly acknowledged that he’d been playing golf 28 years longer than the 20-year-old Chung has been alive.

All those years on the course taught Spencer not to panic, even after staring at a 15-foot par putt on No. 12 to avoid falling four holes behind. He rolled in that one to halve the hole then made another clutch putt on 13. Birdies at 14 and 16 brought him back within one.

Spencer tapped in for another birdie after nearly acing the par-3 17th and leveled the match.

He was a lip-out away from winning it on 18. His birdie putt ran right to left across the hole and clipped the left side of the cup without falling.

"The 18th hole, that was the best putt I hit all day," Spencer said. "It was right in the middle, and it just deflected off something just enough to get it outside the hole."

Chung got up and down from the rough behind the hole to extend the match, and he won it on the 19th hole with a par.

Spencer’s birdie try over a ridge ran 7 feet past the hole. He couldn’t sink the come-backer and conceded defeat.

"It was a thriller," Chung said. "It was a lot of fun. It was very stressful, but I just kept my head in it and tried to stay focused and tried not to get too emotional when he was making those big putts."

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