LITTLE ROCK — Matt Mabrey said three days ago that he wasn’t happy with the way he’d been striking the golf ball, but that he didn’t want to make any changes in the middle of a tournament.
On Sunday, things worked themselves out.
Mabrey, a 19-year-old from Little Rock, shot 3-under-par 69 on Sunday to win the Maumelle Classic at Maumelle Country Club. His 208 total was three strokes ahead of Luke Bakke and four ahead of first-round leader Hunter Smith and Drew Evans.
“It’s one of the biggest and most famous tournaments for Arkansas golfers, so it means a lot to me that I got to win this,” Mabrey said.
Despite his concern about poor control, Mabrey hit 11 of 14 fairways and 16 greens in regulation during Sunday’s final round.
“I just kind of stuck with it,” Mabrey said. “I drove the ball a lot better than I had the last couple weeks, so I gave myself a lot more birdie chances today.”
Mabrey started the day one stroke behind Smith. But Smith lost his lead on the first hole after he three putted from 20 feet for a bogey. Mabrey nearly took the lead, but saw his birdie putt from about 12 feet hit the right side of the cup and settled for par.
A day after getting a triple-bogey eight on the par-5 second, Mabrey stuck his approach to within 10 feet and converted the birdie putt to reach 6 under and take the lead. But he then made bogey on the par-4 third, and all three players in the final group were tied at 5 under.
Smith regained his lead with a four-foot birdie putt on the par-4 fourth to again reach 6 under. But then three putted for bogey from about 50 feet away on the par-3 fifth to fall a stroke behind Mabrey, who made his birdie putt from about seven feet to reach 6 under again.
After six consecutive pars to open his round, Bakke made his birdie putt of about six feet to tie for the lead. Mabrey then knocked in his birdie putt of about six feet to retake the lead at 7 under.
Smith, 19, fell out of contention after hitting his tee shot into the water short of the par-3 eighth green. He finished with a double-bogey to fall three shots behind Mabrey.
Mabrey pulled away on the back nine. He had only a short iron remaining for his second shot into the par-5 12th and stuck his approach to within three feet. His eagle put him at 9 under overall,four shots ahead of Smith and Bakke.
Mabrey then sealed his victory with five pars on his last six holes, with the lone bogey at 18.
“Winning is always good, it gives you so much confidence,” Mabrey said.
Bakke, a 31-year-old from Seattle, shot 72 and finished second. Smith shot 74 and Evans, a 22-year-old from Dallas, shot 70.
Hunter said he never quite recovered from losing his lead so early in the round.
“Three-putted, had a little mental error,” the Cabot native said. “I was just missing something today.”
Tracy Harris, of Little Rock, shot 73 to finish at 223 overall and won the midsenior division by one shot over Todd Martin of Cabot, who shot 72.
Chuck Kaiser, of Maumelle, shot 71 to finish at 217 overall and won the senior division by five shots over Bobby Baker (83) and Bev Hargraves (73). Glenn Talbot, of Sheridan, shot 75 to finish at 220 overall and won the super senior division by three shots over Charly Jones of Sherwood, who shot 72.
Maumelle Classic at Maumelle Country Club Par 72, 7,492 yards
CHAMPIONSHIP
Matt Mabrey ...........................68-71-69-208
Luke Bakke .............................68-71-72-211
Drew Evans ............................68-74-70-212
Hunter Smith ..........................69-69-74-212
Brian Petty ..............................71-73-69-213
Brandon Cauldwell .................67-74-73-214
Corbin Renner ........................74-66-74-214
Jeremy Self ............................69-71-74-214
Tyler Reynolds .......................72-73-71-216
Christopher Reinert ................71-73-73-217
Matt Johnson .........................72-73-72-217
Wayne Fredrick ......................71-75-71-217
Eddie Craven ..........................70-72-76-218
Mark Bartlett ..........................74-73-72-219
Wes McNulty ..........................70-75-74-219
Luke Carpenter .......................70-75-75-220
Nathan -Frederick ...................71-72-77-220
Trey Schaap .............................. 75-72-73-220
Landon Hearnes ....................... 76-76-72-224
Conner Smith ........................... 77-78-71-226
Matt Houton ............................. 78-72-76-226
Matt Malham ............................ 75-74-77-226
Cory Williamson ...................... 73-79-75-227
Michael Lockwood ................... 75-81-71-227
Rowdy Garrett .......................... 79-76-72-227
Alex Hewitt ............................... 76-80-73-229
Drew Greenwood ..................... 71-81-78-230
Graham Rucker ........................ 73-79-78-230
Jason-Purdy............................. 73-78-79-230
RayVann Christenson .............. 78-76-76-230
Neal Westbrook ........................ 73-79-80-232
Tyler-Pinney ............................. 72-79-81-232
Ryan Ennis ............................... 79-78-76-233
Trevor Durham ......................... 82-76-76-234
Winston Sizemore .................... 78-80-76-234
Adam Carpenter ....................... 82-75-78-235
Parker Hale ............................... 83-75-78-236
Michael Foster .......................... 81-76-81-238
Michael Deeter ......................... 78-80-81-239
Dustin Easterly ......................... 76-82-82-240
Jared Black ............................... 78-78-84-240
Andy Simmons .........................75-82-NS-NS
MID-SENIOR
Tracy Harris .............................. 73-77-73-223
Todd Martin .............................. 76-76-72-224
Rodger Bates ........................... 71-79-75-225
Rick Coatney ............................ 71-77-80-228
Jason Palecek .......................... 72-80-77-229
Austin Franks ........................... 75-79-76-230
Tom Pangburn ......................... 74-77-80-231
Tom Kratzke ............................. 75-77-80-232
Todd Krauser ............................ 78-77-78-233
Otto Fry .................................... 78-82-76-236
Jeff Martin ................................ 78-83-78-239
John Tetens .............................. 86-79-76-241
Terry Roberts ........................... 76-85-83-244
Dennis Boroto .......................... 81-83-81-245
Todd Holcomb .......................... 80-86-86-252
Greg Norris .............................78-86-WD-WD
SENIOR
Chuck Kaiser ............................ 71-75-71-217
Bev Hargraves .......................... 71-78-73-222
Bobby Baker ............................. 68-71-83-222
Bruce Dickey ............................ 74-80-72-226
Ron Richard ............................. 75-77-74-226
Oscar Taylor ............................. 76-75-77-228
Ronnie Johnson ....................... 75-78-75-228
Ken Golden ............................... 75-79-76-230
Bill Jett ..................................... 76-80-76-232
Greg Dunseath ........................-80-75-77-232
Jim Smith- ............................... 74-79-79-232
Keith Browning ........................ 79-80-75-234
Cecil McGee ............................. 79-75-81-235
Clark Fitts ................................. 78-81-78-237
Mickey Hargett ......................... 76-78-83-237
Robert Green ............................ 77-81-79-237
Bill Dennis ................................ 77-82-80-239
Phil Farrell ................................ 79-79-81-239
SUPER-SENIOR
Glenn Talbot ............................. 73-72-75-220
Charly Jones ............................ 72-79-72-223
John Mayes .............................. 76-72-78-226
Tom Williams ........................... 82-74-76-232
David Watkins .......................... 79-78-78-235
Hubert Barksdale ..................... 78-77-84-239
Guy Bradford ............................ 83-82-77-242
John Leonard ........................... 83-83-79-245
Dan Young ............................... 81-83-83-247
Joe Rogers ............................... 81-83-84-248
Sports, Pages 13 on 07/30/2012