Gaunt takes Arkansas Amateur
Connor Gaunt knew he had some margin for error when he stepped onto the first tee Saturday morning at Fort Smith’s Hardscrabble Country Club.
By the time he and Murphy Allard made the turn, though, it was essentially a match-play scenario.
Gaunt, a Cabot native and LSU junior, closed with three birdies on the back nine, turning in a 1-under 69 in Saturday’s final round to win the 107th Arkansas Amateur Championship with a 10-under 200, five strokes clear of Allard.
The win gave Gaunt his first Arkansas State Golf Association championship after playing in the Arkansas Amateur for the first time two years ago.
“It’s just a very big honor to put my name on this trophy where there are a bunch of great names are on it already,” Gaunt told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. “I felt like I did a pretty good job handling some adversity when I had it out there, and it’s always reassuring that … what I’m working on is starting to pay off.”
Gaunt led by four shots after carding rounds of 5-under 65 and 4-under 66 on Thursday and Friday, respectively. Although he bogeyed two of the first five holes Saturday, an eagle on the par-5 third made up for the mistakes.
Rogers’ Allard, meanwhile, birdied Nos. 1, 5 and 6 to pull within two shots of Gaunt. He never got closer, though, bogeying No. 10 as well as the 16th and 17th holes, finishing at 5-under 205.
Mitchell Ford of Little Rock matched Gaunt for the best round of the week, posting a 5-under 65 Saturday to pull into a tie for third on the tournament with Rogers’ Tyler Reynolds at 3-under 207
Chris Collins of Springdale also went under par in the final round, rounding out the top five with a score of 1-under 209.
Earlier in the day, Dover’s Julie Oxendine completed her rout of the women’s field, backing up her second-round 75 with a 1-over 71 to finish the tournament at 18-over 228, 14 shots clear of her next closest competitor.
Tanna Richard of Fort Smith was the only other woman to break 80 on Saturday, but she still finished third at 39-over 249, with Hot Springs’ Nora Phillips in second at 32-over 242.
Oxendine, who is a multitime Arkansas Amateur champion, will now hold a place in history as 2022 was the first time the ASGA had held its men’s and women’s stroke play championships simultaneously.
“It’s a really neat thing,” Oxendine said.
“It’s a great step in growing women’s golf. … I hope that maybe next year the timing will be a little bit better to get some of the college girls and more female golfers [in general].”