Technically, Redfield is north of the Lake and Camdenton is at the south end of it. But both are part of this event's sponsor, the Lake of the Ozarks Golf Trail, which is a branch of the Golf Council. The golf trail lets you pick the courses you want to play and your choice of lodging, then puts it together in a tidy package.

"We know that we're a destination for a lot of people in our area, especially these days when people don't want to travel all over the country," Walker said, "They want to stay closer to home and the Lake is a great place to do it.".

This competition, with winners decided in online voting at krcg.com, has only helped the cause for lake-area golf courses and lodging. It's been a brutal year for both, especially the latter.

"I'd be fibbing to you if I said it (the pandemic) didn't hurt us," Walker said. "It did. Not only our golf courses, but our hotels were really suffering.

"It set people back, but it's really picked back up the last couple months. We're not where we'd want to be, but we're better off than a lot of others in the travel and tourism industry."

Old Kinderhook's wins on this cart path to the finals were against:

^ Fayette Golf Club

^ Oak Meadow in Rolla

^ Bear Creek

^ Magaritaville (formerly The Oaks at Tan-Tar-A)

^ Porto Cima in a semifinal heavyweight clash

The wins for Redfield, which has knocked off some giants, were over:

^ California Country Club

^ Old Hawthorne

^ Indian Rock

^ The Cove

^ Osage National

"Osage National was the big one that surprised me," England said, "because it's a resort/public course that gets a lot of traffic. Private clubs (like Columbia's Old Hawthorne) are a little bit different, because you have a limited base.

"But it's definitely nice to be in the same category with these other great golf courses."

Kinderhook golf pro Jason Woods was taking a few days off and was unavailable for comment.

"I've known Jason since I moved down to the Lake over a decade ago," England said. "He's a great golf pro and a great golfer, and I know he's very proud of his golf course.

"There's a reason why Old Kinderhook is one of the top courses in the state --- their facility is absolutely amazing."

This is the third such contest created by the KRCG sports staff to help fill a small part of the sports void left by the cursed virus. It will probably be the last, but with our sports future still being uncertain ... who knows?

"Nothing against anybody else, but I think you guys (in particular, it's been Rod) have done more creative-wise than anyone in our area," Walker said. "I think this has been a great, fun deal; it's given us something to take our minds off the other stuff for a while,.

"I think it was a great idea to showcase the quality of golf courses we have in our area. Particularly on our behalf, the courses at the Lake, it's drawn all kinds of attention."

The Lake is considered to have the best golf in Central Missouri, in both quality and quantity, it swept into this Final Four and is guaranteed to have the champion.

And that's only fitting.