Stan Lee received a bye into the round of 32 at the Arkansas State Golf Association's Match Play championship as the tournament's defending champion.
Advancing into the round of 16 was not nearly as easy.
Sam Marx of Mountain Home made sure the 2013 champion from Tumbling Shoals earned every bit of his victory Friday afternoon before falling in 19 holes to Lee, who advanced to today's round of 16 at The Greens at North Hills in Sherwood.
Marx, 33, found himself 4-down after seven holes to Lee, 61, but rallied to go all-square at 17 and matched Lee with a five on the par-5 18th to force an extra hole.
Marx had to make several clutch shots to take the match into sudden death, but there was no magic left on the playoff hole -- the par-5 first -- as Lee was in safe with par when Marx's 3-foot par attempt slid harmlessly by the hole.
"I was very fortunate," said Lee, who will face David Dyer at 8 a.m. today in the round of 16. "He played really well. He just kept coming at me and coming at me."
Marx didn't back down despite trailing early against Lee, the 2007 U.S. Senior Amateur champion. Marx already had rallied from the same 4-down deficit after seven to defeat Nate Smith earlier in the day in the round of 64.
"I had him on the ropes," Marx said. "I would have liked to have kept him on there a little longer. I was fortunate to play against a great champion like Stan. I can't be upset going out against a guy like that."
Marx won the eighth and ninth to trim his deficit to two heading into the back nine. He lost 12 to fall three back, but he picked up back-to-back holes on 13 and 14 -- the 13th when Lee hit his second shot out of bounds, and then the short par-4 14th when he punched out from under a tree onto the green where he made a downhill 10-foot birdie putt.
Lee, who was just off the green with his tee shot, chipped past the green and couldn't get up and down as his lead went to 1-up.
"I had an easy chip and just blasted it by the hole," Lee said. "He made a great up-and-down. Golly, that was incredible. Anytime you get up and down around these greens, you've really done something."
A good tee shot on the par-3 17th probably would have locked up the match for Lee after Marx pulled his drive left. Instead, Lee found a hazard to the right and watched Marx get up and down for par as they headed to the 18th all-square.
Marx pulled his drive immediately left into the trees on the 571-yard hole, while Lee was just right off the fairway. Marx's second shot from the trees left him still out as Lee waited. Their next shots left them each 60 yards from the hole, and Marx's fourth shot was about 7 feet below the hole while Lee's third shot was also 7 feet away, above the hole.
Marx made his uphill par attempt, but Lee's birdie try went past the hole and rolled to within a foot of where Marx putted. Lee's clutch putt kept his hopes of repeating alive.
Both Marx and Lee hit their tee shots to almost the same spot on the 550-yard first. Lee's second shot went about 50 yards short and center of the green, while Marx went the same distance but right. Lee's third went about 7 feet behind the hole, and he then two-putted. Marx's approach landed short setting up a chip that went 3 feet past the hole.
He missed his par attempt coming back.
"I had a flyer lie and expected it to jump and it didn't," Marx said of his third shot that landed short. "I took a little gamble with that. Sometimes when you gamble you lose."
Lee, who played a practice round Thursday while everyone else was qualifying, said it was good to return to a competitive match-play setting.
"I figured he would make his putt on No. 1," Lee said. "He's a great putter. He is a really good competitor. In match play, when you have someone who is a good player and a good competitor, you got all you want.
"I love playing people that can't putt because they'll give you about five or six holes."
That wasn't the case Friday.
Sports on 08/16/2014