CABOT — Par after par was good enough for Tumbling Shoals' Stan Lee.
Lee shot a final-round 73on Sunday and finished at even par 216 to win the Arkansas State Golf Association Senior Stroke Play Championship at Greystone Country Club's Cypress Creek course.
Lee was one stroke better than Batesville's John Vinson and two strokes better than Conway's Paul Jensen and Little Rock's Roger Clement.
Lee, who will play next month in the U.S. Senior Amateur, appears to have fully recovered from Feb. 12 back surgery that kept him from playing for about three months leading up to the ASGA Senior Match Play in May. Even without practice, he finished second there to Hot Springs Village's Oscar Taylor.
Lee was sharp everywhere but the putting green Sunday. He had his ball in the best position on the green in his group throughout the back nine but couldn't make a birdie.
"I kept it in play, and I had a really good ball-striking round, so I had opportunities. It wasn't really a high-stress round. I didn't have too many par saves I had to make," Lee said. "But it was frustrating because I couldn't make a putt, and that wears on you after a while. But tee to green, I felt great."
Lee made nine consecutive back-nine pars Sunday to hold off a group of four others, all of whom were within two strokes at one point.
"He hits it right by the hole all the time. If he could have putted it today, we wouldn't have even had a chance," Vinson said.
Little Rock's Glen Hickey shot 6-under-par 210 over three rounds to win the super senior championship. Hickey was the only player this weekend - senior or super senior - to shoot under par for the tournament.
Lee and Vinson entered the final round tied for the lead at 1 under with Clement, Jensen and Clarksville's Ken Golden. But as they made the turn Sunday, Clement was at 1 under, one stroke ahead of Lee and two strokes ahead of Vinson.
Vinson dropped a stroke further back with a bogey on the 11th and Clement lost a stroke with three putts on the 12th. That left both Clement and Lee at even par and Vinson at 2 over.
Lee took the lead after making another par on the 14th hole, while Clement three-putted to drop into second place. Clement also bogeyed 15 and 17 to drop back to 3 over.
As Lee continued to make pars, no one made a serious charge until Vinson hit his approach shot on the 17th hole to about three feet and made birdie to get to 1 over, one stroke back.
The par 5, 18th hole at Cypress Creek measures 468 yards, but players can easily go for the green in two shots if they hit a drive into the fairway.
Jensen, playing one group ahead of the leaders, hit his second shot to about a foot and tapped in for eagle. That got him into a third-place tie.
Clement, now at 3 over, hit his second shot to the fringe andtapped in for birdie to finish tied with Jensen at 2 over.
Vinson hit before Lee but missed the green to the left. Lee also missed the green long, but his ball fell into a hole in the rough. Vinson left his chip about 10 feet short, while Lee got out of the hole, chipping his ball inside 10 feet.
"It was a terrible lie, but I don't fear that shot. I really like shots like that. Around the green I'm really comfortable," Lee said.
Vinson had a chance to tie but missed his birdie putt as it slid right of the hole. That allowed Lee to two-putt for par to earn the victory.
"I thought it was going to break left, but it actually broke right," Vinson said. "It was pretty bad."
Clement's third-place finish enables him to take over the ASGA Senior Player of the Year points lead Taylor, who finished fifth Sunday.
Sports, Pages 15, 17 on 08/31/2009