Stan Lee hasn’t had any problems beating the 20- and 30-somethings this week at the Arkansas State Golf Association’s Match Play tournament.
The competition gets even younger for the 60-year-old Heber Springs native in the championship round.
Lee, who has won four state match play titles, the last in 1974, plays 19-year-old Drew Greenwood in today’s 8 a.m. final at The Greens at North Hills in Sherwood.
Lee advanced to the championship after defeating Stan Payne 1-up in the quarterfinals Saturday morning before beating Kevin Walker 4 and 3 later in the day. Greenwood, a sophomore at Ouachita Baptist University, had to go through Trey Schaap 3 and 2 early before defeating David Dyer 1-up in the afternoon.
“He’s 19? That’s about my grandkids’ age,” Lee said after hearing he would be facing Greenwood. “I love it. They push me to be better. When someone is out driving me 30 to 40 yards, which I am getting every match, you have got to be at your best if you are going to beat them.”
Lee was 2-up at the turn in the afternoon match after winning No. 6 with a birdie and No. 9 when Walker called a penalty on himself when his ball moved while he was addressing it from a downhill lie after bombing a 325-yard drive down the center of the 427-yard, par-4 fairway. That led to bogey while Lee made par.
Lee kept applying pressure by sticking an 8-iron on his second shot on the 10th to within a foot of the hole, leading to a conceded birdie to go3-up. Walker and Lee halved 11, but Lee needed to make a 15-footer from the collar on top of Walker’s par to ensure he was in command.
“It was my match to win or lose after 10,” said Lee, who is using this week’s tournament as a measuring stick for next month’s U.S. Senior Amateur tournament in Cashiers, N.C. “The putt on 11 was huge. I live and die on my short game. I don’t hit the ball good enough to hit every green. I just can’t do that.
“I had a little advantage, but not a big advantage against Stan Lee,” said Walker, of Sherwood, who calls North Hills his home course. “He is a great player and knows how to get around a golf course. There’s a reason why he is going to the U.S. Senior Am in September, because he can make putts like that.”
Walker cut the deficit to 2-up when he birdied thepar-5, 12th, but Lee played the short, uphill, par-4 14th to perfection for a birdie to get the lost hole right back. He put away the match on the 15th, a par 3, with a par while Walker three-putted from 50 feet.
“I really didn’t believe I would get this far, to be honest with you,” Lee said. “I didn’t know what I was getting into because I am not used to playing 20-somethings. I am being pushed this week, and I knew if I put myself in this position that I might not win, and that was OK, but I would learn a lot of things about myself.”
In the other semifinal, Greenwood opened a quick 2-up lead over Dyer who got all square with a tough up-and-down from behind the No. 9 green. From there, neither player had more than a one-hole advantage with Greenwood curling in a 10-foot putt on the par-3 17th to keep things all square.
On the par-5 18th, Dyer had to chip out of the deep rough on his third shot to a pin cut on the front edge, just a few yards from a water hazard. He missed his mark by less than a foot, as the ball took a sideways bounce and trickled away from the sloping pin to set up a 30-foot birdie try that ran past the hole.
Greenwood’s third from a slight uphill lie just off the green finished 4 feet from the hole, leaving him a birdie attempt that he would make to finalize today’s pairing with a man 41 years his senior.
“He doesn’t play like a 60-year-old,” Greenwood said of Lee. “I know all about him and that he’s done a lot of good things for golf in Arkansas.”
Champions were determined in the three other age-divisions Saturday. Tracy Harris defeated Frank Martin 2 and 1 to win the mid-senior division; Bev Hargraves downed Bobby Baker 5 and 4 for the seniors title; and Oscar Taylor captured the super-senior title with a 3 and 2 victory over Charly Jones.
Saturday’s results ASGA Match Play Championship The Greens at North Hills, Sherwood
AMATEUR Quarterfinals David Dyer, Hot Springs, def. Kyle Thompson, Sherwood, 1-up Drew Greenwood, Hot Springs, def. Trey Schaap, North Little Rock, 3 and 2 Kevin Walker, Sherwood, def. Stafford Gray, Sherwood, 3 and 2 Stan Lee, Tumbling Shoals, def. Stan Payne, Little Rock,1-up Semifinals Drew Greenwood, Hot Springs, def. David Dyer, Hot Springs, 1-up Stan Lee, Tumbling Shoals, def. Kevin Walker, Sherwood, 4 and 3 Championship (8 a.m. today) Drew Greenwood, Hot Springs, vs. Stan Lee, Tumbling Shoals
MID-SENIOR Semifinals Tracy Harris+, Little Rock, def. Corley Townsend III, Little Rock, 2 and 1 Frank Martin, North Little Rock, def. John Tetens+, Conway, 1-up (22) Championship Tracy Harris+, Little Rock, def. Frank Martin, North Little Rock, 2 and 1
SENIOR Semifinals Bev Hargraves, Helena-West Helena, def. Ronnie Johnson, Hot Springs, 2 and 1 Bobby Baker, Little Rock, def. Fred Stamey, Hot Springs, 1-up Championship Bev Hargraves, Helena-West Helena, def. Bobby Baker, Little Rock, 5 and 4
SUPER SENIOR Semifinals Oscar Taylor, Hot Springs Village, def. Glen Talbert, Sheridan, 4 and 3 Charly Jones, Sherwood, def. Russ Fullerton, Searcy, 1-up Championship Oscar Taylor, Hot Springs Village, def. Charly Jones, Sherwood, 3 and 2 +Received first-round bye
Sports, Pages 29 on 08/25/2013