‘Determined’ Ott wins on extra hole

Strolling off the 18th green at Eagle Hill Golf Course in Little Rock on Thursday, Casey Ott could have been dealing with several emotions.

She settled on one.

“I was just determined,” she said.

Ott held a slim lead over Kirsten Garner from the seventh hole through the 16th hole at the ASGA Junior Girls Match Play final, entering the 17th 2-up and needing just to halve the hole to win the tournament.

That’s when Garner’s 15-foot birdie putt from the fringe fell as Ott was waiting to line up a putt for par. Then Garner birdied 18, forcing an extra hole.

“I was a little mad,” Ott said. “So I just crushed my drive and told myself to hit it on the green.”

That she did.

Playing the par-4 No. 1 hole for the second time Thursday, Ott’s drive split the fairway, her second shot landed just right of the fairway, and then a chip landed about 5 feet from the hole for an easy par putt as she defeated Garner 1-up.

It was the second ASGA victory of the summer for Ott, a 13-year-old from Conway. She also won the ASGA Stroke Play Championship last month at the Country Club of Little Rock.

“I had a feeling she would come back,” Ott said. “When she did, I just kept trying to play good. I got a little nervous, but I got over it.”

Garner, a 17-year-old from Hot Springs, waited until it was almost too late to make her move.

After missing out on a chance to make up a stroke on No. 10 - Ott hit into the water, but both players made bogey - the two halved Nos. 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15. Ott made par on the par-3 16th and Garner’s par putt slipped past the hole to the right to give Ott a 2-up lead.

Then on the par-5 17th, Ott’s second shot went into the bunker just short of the green while Garner’s rolled just past the hole and onto the fringe. Ott’s chip from the sand landed on the green, but Garner’s putt from the rough - about 15 feet away - rolled into the cup to ward off a loss and draw the loudest applause the two dozen spectators had shown throughout the final nine holes.

“I had a few of those putts [earlier in the tournament] that I didn’t putt very well,” Garner said. “So, I went to the putting green this morning to practice out of the fringe just in case, and I guess it paid off.”

Garner birdied 18 to get even and force an extra hole.

“I didn’t think it would happen, actually,” Garner said. “But when she left the door open, I had to attack and play really well.”

She couldn’t keep it going on the extra hole.

Her tee shot was in the middle of the fairway, but short. She had to punch her second shot underneath tree branches and it landed short of the green. Her chip shot from right of the green was short, and after her fourth shot made it on the green Ott made her par putt to win.

Ott’s victory was her fourth of the week after winning matches 3 and 2, 1-up and 3 and 2 to advance to the final.

“I think I played better the first three matches than today,” she said. “But today [Garner] was a better player, and I played pretty good.”