"He's definitely one of the top players in the state, there's no doubt," Parrish (Washington, Mo., age 23) said of Johnson (Springfield, 22), the 2013-14 state champion. "If I'm hitting good shots and he beats me, that's fine, he outplayed me. But to start out the way I did, I didn't want to lose like that.

"That would have been tough to swallow."

It took a while for Parrish's bathroom pep-talk to take effect. Because after losing the fifth to go 3 down ...

"I told myself: 'You're 3 down with plenty of holes to play, you're fine,'" Parrish said. "Then I just hit a horrible tee shot (on six), probably one of the worst tee shots I've hit in months, and l lost that hole."

Parrish --- who will meet Sam Migdal in the 36-hole championship at 9 a.m. Sunday --- was 4 down and looking squarely in the face at 5 down after seven, before sinking an eight-footer for birdie to halve the hole.

"That was the big turning point for me, making that birdie putt to push and not going 5 down," he said. "Then, I just tried to grind away and chip away at his lead."

Parrish won the eighth with a par and the ninth with a birdie to get within 2 after nine, then birdied 11 and parred 12 to pull even.

This turnaround was not about the mechanics of his swing.

"It was more of a mental adjustment," Parrish said. "My swing's been feeling really good all week ... I wasn't hitting really bad shots, they were just a little off here and there. I wasn't putting it quite in the right spots.

"Then once I felt the momentum switching, I just tried to keep my head down and stay focused on what I was doing."

It stayed even heading into 17, when Parrish hit a pure 6-iron to 10 feet and made the putt to take a 1 up lead, his lead first of the day.

In a span 10 holes, Parrish had gone from 4 down to 1 up against a two-time champion.

"That felt so good," Parrish said of his birdie on 17. "I'd lipped out a putt for birdie on 15 to go 1 up, then I just burned the edge on 16. Once I got to the green on 17, I told my caddy: 'This putt's going in.'"

It did, both parred 18, and it was over. This unlikely comeback was complete.

"I wish it had been less stressful," Parrish said, "but at this point in the tournament, a win's a win. "

Can he carry the momentum into Sunday's 36-hole final? You bet.

"I think I can," Parrish said. "And carrying that momentum into (Sunday) should help me out."

If he can keep it, that is, because momentum can certainly be a fickle thing.

IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII

THIS IS THE FOURTH APPEARANCE in the State Am for Parrish, and he'd never advanced past the second round prior to this week. Migdal has the same history, as his best finish was also in Round of 32.

Now --- and after 147 players teed it up Tuesday --- they are the last two standing.

After playing as many 126 holes the past five days --- and not counting the holes played in Monday's practice round --- the grueling week has one more task facing the pair, the 36-hole final.

When's the last time you played more than 170 holes in one week? Same here.

And there's this: Has this grind been more mentally or physically draining?

"Golf's 90 percent mental," Migdal said, "so I'd say mental. It's been a long week, it's good to finally be here."

The Migdal-Brad Nurski semifinal was as dramatic as Parrish-Johnson, but the matches couldn't have been more different. There was no 4 up lead in this one, but instead, the biggest advantage for either player was 1 up.

"It was really back and forth, it was very tight the whole way," Migdal said. "But I expected that, I thought it would go at least 18."

Both players won three holes in the first 10 to leave it all square and it stayed even until 17 --- which turned out to be the deciding hole in both matches --- when Migdal's par gave him a 1 up lead.

Both then missed makeable birdie putts on 18 to halve the hole and leave Migdal with a hard-earned 1 up win.

"I'd say my putter let me down this afternoon," Nurski said. "I had some chances on the back nine to get a hole or two, but I just couldn't get birdies to go in.

"That's the way it happens, sometimes. I just lost to the better man today."

Still, it was another great run by Nurski, who won the championship in 2010.

"To be out here and compete with these kids," he said, "it feels pretty good to make it to the semifinals."

Nurski is hardly using a walker, as he's only 37. But Migdal is 24, and the other semifinalists are 23 and 22.

"Those kids are really kids," Nurski said. "They do this for a living, I've got a job and a wife and two kids at home, so this is good accomplishment, I'm proud of myself.

"I just wish it would have turned out a little better today."

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