He can keep the jacket.
Lonoke's Stafford Gray used a torrid final-round finish to overcome a four-shot deficit in regulation, then made a 10-foot par putt on the first playoff hole to win the 45th annual Maumelle Classic on a pleasant Sunday afternoon at Maumelle Country Club.
Gray, who beat Bryon Shumate on Fort Smith in sudden death, became the first repeat winner of the prestigious state amateur event since Matt Mabrey in 2012-2013.
Gray earned his first green jacket -- presented to the Maumelle Classic winner -- with a 15-foot birdie putt on the final hole last July.
"I've worn the first one once or twice, but I actually think I'm going to frame them," said Gray, 33, a sales representative for Little Rock's Moon and Central Distributors. "I said earlier that the garage is my decorating room. I've got some scoreboards, my plaque from last year and some flags from college and stuff in the garage."
Shumate, 48, the 2008 Maumelle Classic champion, entered Sunday's final round leading at 7 under, one stroke better than Ben Sanders of Magnolia. Gray was four shots back at 3 under after shooting 71 and 70 in the opening two rounds.
Shumate shot a bogey-free 2-under 70 to finish the three-day, 54-hole event at 9-under 207. Gray also finished at 9 under following a sparkling 6-under 66, the low round of the tournament.
Playing in the penultimate group, Gray recorded seven birdies -- Nos. 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 14 and 16 -- the last giving him a brief one-shot lead over Shumate. Gray's lone bogey came on No. 9 when he missed a 2-foot par putt.
"It was really tee to green," Gray said. "I had a ton of 10 to 15 footers, downgrain putts, which is what I like."
Shumate, playing in the final group, also reached 9 under with a birdie on No. 16. He had a chance to win in regulation, but missed a 40-foot birdie putt on No. 18.
Shumate and Gray returned to No. 18, a 425-yard par 4 that doglegs sharply left, for the first playoff hole.
Gray split the fairway with his tee shot. Shumate, however, pull his 3-wood left into trees and was forced to punch out into the fairway for his third shot.
"Just a bad swing at the wrong time," Shumate said.
Shumate's 6 iron approach from 180 yards finished just left of the green about 45 feet from the pin. Gray's approach was also left of the green, but slightly inside Shumate.
Shumate made a 15-foot bogey putt to put the pressure on Gray, who secured his first Maumelle Classic title on the same green in 2017.
"It was awfully similar to the putt I had last year to win," Gray said of his par effort. "The pin was a little lower into the green, more in the middle of the green than it was last year, but the same slope was involved. Didn't have a whole lot of movement in it. It was more like right edge. I just hit a really good putt."
Sanders, the men's and women's golf coach at Southern Arkansas University, first-round leader Luke Cornett of Drasco and 2006 Maumelle Classic champion Luke Bakke of Seattle were part of a six-way tie for third at 1-under 215.
Trey Schaap of Maumelle, the 2016 Maumelle Classic champion, won the Mid-Senior Division (age 38 and over) at 2-over 218. Michael Wharton-Palmer of Texarkana won the Senior Division (53 and over) at 9-under 207. Chuck Kaiser of Maumelle won the Super-Senior Division (63 and older) at 1-over 217 and Don Kuehn of Kansas City, Mo., won the Masters Division (70 and older) at 3-under 213.
Sports on 07/30/2018