Bennett back on top in AWGA
Grier Bennett wins state golf championships almost in her spare time.
At age 20, the Hot Springs Village player repeated in the Arkansas Women’s Golf Association Stroke Championship, which ended Tuesday. Bennett played 54 holes of steady golf at Maumelle Country Club, totaling 227 with rounds of 76, 75 and 76. She won by four strokes over Tracy Duncan with AWGA Hall of Famers Tanna Richard and Pam Spikes farther back in the six- member championship flight.
Duncan took second place by two strokes over Tanna Richard with Pam Spikes fourth at 234. Spikes, of Maumelle, defeated Fort Smith’s Richard in the final for the second- straight year in the AWGA Match Play Championship last month at Glenwood Country Club.
Bennett almost matched her winning total of last year when she prevailed by one shot over Jennifer Loiacano with a 226 at Diamante Country Club in Hot Springs Village, where Bennett then held a summer job.
Loiacano ( 234), Brenda Carr ( 248), Jean Mowry of Hot Springs Village ( 240), Kathy Norris ( 262) and Jerry Hyde ( 283) won other flights at Maumelle, where Hot Springs native Cary Maddox is golf pro.
Bennett is home for the summer before beginning her third year at High Point University, where she is a scholarship player on the women’s golf team. A summer job in Little Rock has limited her practice time, but Bennett is accustomed to overcoming challenges. Restricted to golf after knee injuries derailed her chances of playing college basketball, Bennett won Class 3A state titles in her junior and senior years at Jessieville High.
“Whoever signs her is getting
a diamond in the rough,” said Steve Wheelis, a Hot Springs Village golf instructor who tutors Bennett, before she signed with High Point, a North Carolina school in the NCAA Division I Big South Conference.
Bennett improved her stroke average to 77.8 in her sophomore year at High Point, recording her best finish when fourth ( 150) in the Highlander Invitational and tying for fifth with a career- best score of 147 at the Terrier Intercollegiate. Presently intending to major in Nonprofit Leadership and Management, Bennett is a two-time Millis Scholar- Athlete at High Point.
Bennett has been named to the Arkansas Fore States Cup team for matches July 31- Aug. 2 at Twin Hills Country Club in Joplin, Mo. She also plans to enter next week’s Arkansas State Golf Association Women’s Stroke Championship at Hot Springs Country Club.