There was no stopping Luke Long on Thursday.
The recent Fayetteville graduate made a hole-in-one at the par-3 sixth hole to catapult himself to a 2-and-1 victory over Jackson Marseilles in the morning semifinals, then kept the pedal down to win the Arkansas State Golf Association Junior Match Play Championship, 5 and 3, over El Dorado's Pete Carroll.
Long's victory at Eagle Hill Golf and Athletic Club in Little Rock made it a Northwest Arkansas sweep Thursday. Rogers' Brooke Matthews defeated two-time defending champion Elizabeth Moon of Forrest City 3 and 2 to win the girls' title to complete her sweep of the ASGA's two top junior tournaments this summer. Matthews, 17, won the ASGA Amateur by six strokes in June at Pleasant Valley Country Club in Little Rock.
Long, who finished second to Maumelle's Ryan Spurlock in the player of the year standings with the victory, jumped out to a quick 3-up advantage after three holes over Carroll, 17. He built the lead to 6 up after eight, which included winning the 170-yard sixth with a tee shot less than 3 feet away from the cup, where he slam-dunked an 8-iron in the semifinals.
"It was a pretty good day overall," said Long, 18, who will play in the fall at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. "The hole-in-one was a really nice feeling, but I knew there was a lot of golf to play after that if I had a chance at winning the tournament.
"Pete played well. I was fortunate to get a big lead, and I was able to go for things which you can do in match play especially with the lead. Except for two bad shots it worked out pretty well for me."
Carroll, who defeated Connor Gaunt of Cabot 3 and 2 in the semifinals, didn't win his first hole against Long until the par-4 ninth. He said there was never frustration, just that Long never left the door open long enough for him to get on a serious roll.
"I hit a couple of bad shots, which didn't help," said Carroll, who is entering his senior year. "It was just fun to watch Luke do his thing. He's a great player, and I enjoyed getting the chance to make it to the championship and trying to win it."
Carroll got to within 4 down when Long found the water at the par-3 12th. Long's birdie attempt rimmed out on the par-4 13th, then he almost chipped in at the par-3 14th after his tee shot nearly found water again as both holes were eventually halved.
Long put the match away at the par-4 15th when Carroll's tee shot went less than a foot out of bounds. Long found the fairway with his tee shot, then the center of the green on his approach as Carroll went over the green on his fourth and couldn't hole his bogey attempt.
"His chip on 14 and my drive on 15 kind of ended any hopes," Carroll said.
The victory capped a successful summer for Long, who won a men's event at Mystic Creek in Mountain Home and also the Shadow Valley Championship in Rogers and the Southern Bancorp Alliance Insurance Championship in Hot Springs.
"It was definitely a good summer," said Long, who is in the field at this weekend's Maumelle Classic that begins today at Maumelle Country Club. "I really feel good about my game and hope it carries through at Maumelle and beyond."
Matthews never trailed in the girls final, jumping out to a 2-up lead after three holes over Moon. It easily could have been more, but the 16-year-old Moon from Forrest City rammed in a 25-foot downhill birdie putt on the opening hole to secure a half.
Moon won Nos. 4 and 5 to square the match before Matthews, an Arkansas Razorback early commit heading into her senior year at Rogers, birdied No. 6 and saved par at No. 7 to rebuild the lead to 2 up.
"I definitely thought I was going to go 1 up on the first, but she made a great putt," Matthews said. "Elizabeth is a good player, and I knew she was capable of making a lot of birdies so I just had to keep striking the ball well and not back down."
Moon won the par-4 ninth to go 1 down entering the back side. She lost any momentum at the par-5 10th with a bogey, while Matthews made par thanks to a drive that clipped a tree branch but still went 325 yards. With a par, Matthews took advantage of Moon's approach at the 15th that found the water hazard to go 3 up, then won the match at the par-3 16th when both conceded par putts.
"I thought on the back nine that I still had a chance, but I just kept making pars with her," said Moon, who finished second to Maumelle's Josie Roberson in the player of the year standings and is going into her junior year at Wynne. "It would have been nice [to be a three-time consecutive champion], but today's round gave me a big lesson -- that I need more practice."
Sports on 07/22/2016