Austin Harmon has had a year to think about how the 2014 Maumelle Classic championship got away from him.
Needing only a bogey on the 18th hole in the third and final round to win last year's tournament, he found a condominium with his tee shot, leading to a double bogey and ultimately a loss in a three-man playoff to Noah Tullos of Paragould.
Harmon, 20, made amends of sorts for that in Friday's first round at Maumelle Country Club. The Central Baptist College junior from Benton blistered the 47-man field with a 5-under-par 67 for a four-shot lead over two others.
He finished his front nine with three consecutive birdies for a 32, then birdied two of the first three holes on the back side to get to 6 under. Bogeys on the par-4 third hole, par-3 13th and his old nemesis, the par-4 18th, were the only blips on his scorecard that included eight birdies.
"The greens are really good out here this year, and I putted very well," said the 6-5, 290-pound Harmon, "My goal coming in was to shoot 5 under each day. It can be done, so that's going to be my focus the next two days."
Playing with Tullos and D.J. Godoy, who was the third participant in last year's playoff, Harmon raced out to a four-stroke lead after his birdie run to close the front nine. He extended the lead to six strokes after chipping to within 2 feet at the par-5 12th and sinking his birdie putt. He gave a stroke back at the 13th when his tee shot found the bunker. He nearly got up-and-down from there, but missed his 8-foot par attempt.
"I got a little tired there on the 13th and 14th, but it wasn't a bad bogey there at 13," Harmon said. "I'll take it because it sure could have been worse."
Harmon birdied the par-5 15th to get back to 6 under before missing a 12-foot par attempt at the final hole for his 67.
Godoy, who had 15 pars, 2 birdies and 1 bogey, is tied for second with Ben Sanders of Little Rock after each shot 1-under 71s. A sophomore at Arkansas Tech, Godoy made his two birdies on par-3s, but avoided making any big numbers.
"I didn't get into trouble, but I didn't get many opportunities for birdies either," Godoy said. "I have to go into today keeping it in play and try not to lose any golf balls."
Tullos got off to a good start in defense of last year's title when he birdied No. 1. But that early momentum quickly faded after a double bogey on the par-5 second when he put two balls in the water. A birdie on the par-4 seventh left him at even par for the front, and he found red numbers again after making a 25-foot birdie putt at the par-4 11th.
That was short-lived when he sliced his second shot at the 12th through the hazard and fortunately came out away with a bogey to drop back to even. He offset another dropped stroke at the 14th by making an 8-foot birdie putt on the 18th to finish with an even-par 72, which was good for a tie for fourth with Austin Smith of Russellville and Price Murphree of Camden.
"I hit it pretty good except for hitting it in the water hazard twice on No. 2 and finding the hazard on 12," said Tullos, a junior at UALR. "A missed fairway on the back cost me a bogey, but I think overall I struck it pretty good."
Tullos was four strokes behind after the first round a year ago and five strokes out of the lead after the second before making his Sunday charge. He reached the playoff with a birdie on the final hole of regulation and won over Harmon with another birdie on the second playoff hole. Godoy was eliminated on the first.
"You can't win it on the first day," Tullos said. "When you have someone hitting it good and rolling in putts like Austin did it today, there's nothing you can do."
Sitting in a tie for sixth place was Wes McNulty of White Hall, Tyler Reynolds of Little Rock, Wess Webb of El Dorado and Richard Wrentz of Little Rock.
Leaders in the other divisions included Mark Graham (mid-senior), Frederick Stamey (senior) and Joe Bushee (super-senior).
Sports on 07/25/2015