Austin Eoff's first attempt at winning the Arkansas State Golf Association stroke play championship ended with a runner-up finish to Wes McNulty in 2013.
McNulty won his record sixth state stroke play title two years ago when the third round was washed out at Hardscrabble Country Club in Fort Smith, seven strokes ahead of Eoff.
Now Eoff sits four shots in front of Brice Howard going into today's final round of the ASGA's first major of 2015 at the Country Club of Little Rock.
Eoff said despite playing in the state's premier amateur tournament for only the second time, there was no denying his objective going into the event.
"I want to win it, that's what it comes down to," said Eoff, a 20-year-old from Benton who just completed his sophomore season at Purdue. "Two years ago at Hardscrabble, I don't know if I could have caught Wes that last day anyway. He was playing pretty well. This year, I definitely think I am playing well enough to win it."
Eoff started Friday tied for the lead with Howard after an opening-round 1-under 70. Howard, of Hot Springs, didn't gain any ground with an even-par 71 on as Eoff went 2 under on both sides and finished with a 67. Eoff was 3 under for his round after six holes before making his lone bogey at the eighth.
"Eight is killing me," said Eoff, who hit his drive and second shot on the 449-yard par-4 short before finishing with a five. "I thought the course overall played easier today. They had a lot of the tees moved up, which helped."
Howard, playing two groups behind Eoff, pulled to within a stroke after a birdie at the fifth but bogeyed the par-3 ninth to finish his front nine at even. A triple bogey at the par-4 13th put him six strokes back before he rallied with birdies on the final three holes.
"The triple definitely didn't feel good," Howard said. "It's never good to make a seven. It was just one bad swing compounded by a couple of more bad swings."
Wesley Harris, who got into the tournament as an alternate, is alone in third after a 69. He as at even (142) and sits five strokes behind Eoff.
McNultry put himself in good position to win his seventh championship after a 2-under 69. Bogeys on Nos. 2 and 15 didn't sit well with the five-time player of the year who is in fourth place at 143, six strokes behind Eoff.
"I made bogey from 20 yards on 15 and 110 yards on No. 2, which is inexcusable," said McNulty, who had four three-putts in an opening-round 74 but none Friday. "The wind was coming from a different direction today, which meant hitting different clubs off the tee. Overall, I hit it a lot better today and was pleased with no three-putts."
McNulty and Harris shared Friday's second-lowest round with Byron Shumate, who is tied for fifth with 2014 champion Seth Garner at 144, and Tyler Reynolds, who went from 29th to a tie for ninth at 5-over 147.
"Making one bogey was the key after making eight yesterday," Reynolds said. "I really didn't play as good as I wanted. I seriously wanted to shoot closer to 64 or 65. I hit it good enough, but I didn't play as aggressive as I wanted."
McNulty will play in the next-to-last threesome with Shumate and Garner. He said everything has to fall into place for him to win a seventh stroke play title.
"If someone's going to beat Austin, they're going to have to go really low," said McNulty, who won state championships in 1992, 1993, 2008, 2009, 2012 and 2013. "Obviously he's playing really well. I guess I am fortunate to be in contention considering I won my first state amateur before he was born."
Sports on 06/20/2015