All Tuesday morning, the Special Olympics golfer kept his cool as a gallery of his Crete High School classmates followed him up and down the fairways in his match against his buddy, former United States Golf Association President Trey Holland.

He kept his focus as a cadre of carts carrying photographers and friends and strangers cheered his every move.

Then came No. 8. And a long putt on the tricky par 3.

"Put it in the hole, Trey," said the other Trey, a 53-year-old urologist from Indianapolis who flew in to Lincoln just for this match.

The 19-year-old with Down syndrome bent over his ball. He stroked his putter. The gallery ohhed.

The ball slid past.

The gallery cheered anyway.

And finally Trey tipped his hat. A Tiger Woods at the U.S. Open tip. Then a Rich Beem at the PGA Championship jiggle. And an Ernie Els at the British Open grin.

"That's more like the real Trey -- hamming it up," said his dad, Ernie Thalmann, wearing a grin as wide as his youngest son's.

It was a morning for smiles.

A special morning for two golfers named Trey.

Trey Holland, tall and thin with a wry wit. The man who helped create the USGA rules for golfers with special needs.

Trey Thalmann -- T-Man, short and stocky and sometimes silly. A guy who'd like a job mowing fairways -- or cutting girls' hair -- who proudly declares his best score: 82. For nine holes.

The two Treys met in 2001, when young Trey competed at the International Special Olympics Golf Tournament in North Carolina.

The older Trey saw the name Trey on the leader board and introduced himself. He checked in with the Special Olympics golfer every day after that and followed young Trey on the final day, when he won a playoff for a gold medal.

And they've been friends since.

They write each other. The Trey from Indianapolis checks up on the Trey from Dorchester's golf game -- and his girlfriends. The Trey from Dorchester answers his questions and sends photographs from the prom. (Showing that, indeed, he has any number of girlfriends.)

Last year the pair played together in Crete. This year the Nebraska Golf Association helped set up a round at Hillcrest Country Club.

On Tuesday, Trey partnered with his coach, Scott Johnson, for an alternate-shot match against big Trey and Ernie Thalmann.

And the T-Man fans showed up in full force.

Trey's classmates carried signs they'd made at school. Quiet. Applause. Go Trey.

Trey had his right hip replaced in the fall and he's just getting his game back, said his mom, Evy, watching her son use his putter as a make-shift cane to hobble up to the greens.

"To me he really epitomizes what is true of a lot of Special Olympics athletes and what a lot of us could learn from," Trey Holland said before the match. "There's just no give-up."

Even after a quadruple bogey on the first hole. And a triple on the second.

All through the cloudy, cool morning, the gallery obeyed the Quiet sign as the players approached their shots. After each drive, long and straight, slice or shank, they cheered.

After four holes, no one kept score.

But when the last ball fell in the last cup, when the last cheers faded, Trey just knew who the champion was.

"I won," he said, the grin back on his face. "I beat Trey Holland."

Then, followed by an entourage of happy fans ready for a sack lunch, he retreated to the parking lot.

To sign autographs.

Reach Cindy Lange-Kubick at 473-7218 or clangekubick@journalstar.com