Lee defends title, holds off Dunstan
Mackenzie Lee defeated Bailey Dunstan 4 and 3 on Friday morning to win the Arkansas State Golf Association Junior Girls Match Play championship at Eagle Hill Golf Club in Little Rock.
Lee’s victory, her second in as many years in the tournament, appears convincing based on the final score, but there were more than a handful of moments, if reversed, that would have extended the match beyond the 15 holes that were played.
Dunstan, who is entering her senior year at Baptist Prep, missed two birdie putts that could have had her one down after the first nine holes instead of three.
“My putting today was just not every good,” Dunstan said. “I was just off at everything today.”
One putt Dunstan wishes she could have made came on the par-3 fourth hole when her 8-iron landed 5 feet from the pin on the 135-yard hole.
A birdie there would have tied the match, but it slid past and Lee maintained a 1-up advantage.
“It wasn’t easy,” Dunstan said of the downhill putt. “But once you miss one of those — and I missed several of those — it’s kind of hard to bounce back.”
Another birdie opportunity came at No. 9, where Dunstan, down three, reached the par-4 in two shots while Lee had to lay up in two before landing a gap wedge to 3 feet.
Dunstan’s 15-foot birdie attempt curled just past the hole, and after Lee made her par, the lead remained 3 shots.
“It just didn’t go in,” Dunstan said.
Undeterred, Dunstan made another charge as soon as the players started on the back nine.
Dunstan won the par-5 10th hole with a birdie as Lee hit into the woods and stayed in the woods.
That gave Dunstan tee honors for the first time in the match as the players approached the 441-yard par-5 11th hole.
Lee, with back-to-back errant tee shots, watched Dunstan split the 11th fairway. Lee’s tee shot landed in the right rough, and it was sitting down a bit, 200 yards away from the elevated green.
Advantage Dunstan, or so it seemed.
Lee, a 15-year-old heading into her sophomore year at North Little Rock High School, pulled out a 3-wood and decided to go for the green even though the ball was not perfectly placed.
“I was definitely trying to hit it on the green,” Lee said. “I was trying to hit down on it, because it was a little lower than ground level, so it would roll as much as possible.”
Hit down, Lee did. And roll, the ball did.
Lee’s shot hit about 30 feet in front of the ground, rolled onto the tilted putting surface and trickled within 10 feet of the pin.
Dunstan had an unfortunate twist when her approach bounced down the hill instead of going on the green.
Lee won the hole to go back up by three, then won the 12th and 13th holes, and just like that she was 5-up with five holes to play
“It was a really good shot,” Dunstan said of Lee’s 3-wood approach on 11.
Lee, No. 31 in the American Junior Golf Association national rankings, said that her 3-wood from the rough may not have been the turning point in the match, but it was definitely the best shot she could have hit at the moment.
“I don’t think it was the turning point,” she said. “But that shot, it let me stay confident about my game. I didn’t worry about it as much.”