HOT SPRINGS -- A day after Summar Roachell was nearly eliminated in the semifinals, the top seed bowed out in the final to the one playing the best golf.
Second-seeded Heather Wall, in just her second tournament since regaining her amateur status in May, knocked off Roachell 3 and 2 to win the Arkansas State Golf Association Women's Match Play championship Friday on Hot Springs Country Club's Park Course.
"It was solid and consistent," said Wall, the current golf coach at Arkansas-Monticello and a former professional on the Symetra Tour. "Today was a tough match, and I knew it would be. Summar is a great player, and she's going to go far in her career."
Wall, of Lake Village, went out in 36 with all pars, but that was enough for a two-hole lead at the turn. Roachell, a junior at the University of Arkansas, dropped both par 5s on the front and tried to dig herself out of a hole the rest of the day.
"It was tough because she's such a good player," said Roachell, of Conway. "She hits a lot of fairways and a lot of greens and gives herself some opportunities. That really put a lot of pressure on me to hit a lot of good shots. You basically had to make a birdie out there to win.
"She doesn't make very many mistakes, and when she does make one you have to take advantage of it."
Roachell got one back on 11 when Wall's wayward second shot led to a bogey, but Roachell dropped the par-5 12th.
"I got a little too greedy there, just trying to get in position to be on the green in two," Roachell said. "Normally I could, but I just pulled it into the water. You're on a high after finally winning a hole, but for that to happen it just takes a lot out of you."
Roachell won the 13th to again trail by one, but Wall's revived putting stroke helped on No. 14, the first of three decisive holes. Roachell had a 6-foot look for birdie, but Wall made her 14-foot birdie putt to keep Roachell from squaring the match.
The par-3 15th was a nightmare for Roachell for a second consecutive day. A poor tee shot led to a bogey that gave Wall another two-hole advantage a day after Roachell made double bogey on it during her 19-hole semifinal victory against Kirsten Garner.
"It never was a full number," Roachell said. "It was always somewhere in between, so you have to pick your shot, and I didn't really execute them. That's a big momentum hole right there. If you could win or tie that hole, you're sitting good."
Roachell hooked her drive on the 16th, resulting in a bad lie and an awkward approach that landed left of the elevated green. She was unable to get up-and-down from there, and Wall dispatched her with a two-putt par.
"On 16, when I made that two putt from such a long ways away, it made up for not hitting a very good iron into there," Wall said. "Two-putting that and finishing it off was very good."
Wall clinched all of her matches early throughout the week, beating Fayetteville's Lulong Radler 4 and 2 in the first round and reigning champion Libby Croom of Russellville 5 and 4 in the semifinals.
Bismarck's Carrie Hall defended her senior title with a 19-hole victory over Hot Springs Village's Cassandra Groh.
Hall said she wasn't pleased with the way she played in the finale but was happy for the victory.
"I am blessed to be the defending champion," Hall said. "It came down to I was struggling with my driver and my putter, so I relied on my 4-iron a bunch. But my putting was, I don't know. I was just closing my eyes, swinging and hoping it would go in."
Sports on 07/18/2015