GOLF: Kilcrease, Curry claim ASGA wins

ROGERS -- Grace Kilcrease rallied from a five-stroke deficit Wednesday to fire a 3-under 69 and claim the girls Arkansas Junior Amateur Golf Championship at Shadow Valley Country Club.

Texarkana's Thomas Curry went wire-to-wire on the boys side to edge Murphy Allard of Rogers and Rhett South of Fayetteville by two strokes.

Kilcrease shot the only sub-70 round in the girls tournament, bouncing back from Tuesday's 5-over 77 to finish with a two-day total of 146.

"I didn't hit the ball well on Tuesday, so I knew that coming into the second day I had to be a better ball-striker and make some putts," said the 16-year-old Kilcrease, a senior at Springdale Har-Ber. "This is one of my biggest accomplishments. To come back from five shots, I feel truly blessed."

After her struggles Tuesday, she went straight to her home course, Springdale Country Club, to work on her swing. It paid off as she got off to a strong start Wednesday with birdies on Nos. 3, 8 and 9, drawing even with first-round leader Emmerson Doyle, who eventually fell off the pace with an 86 to finish third.

Kilcrease's tee shot at No. 10 went into the rocks, but she played the ball out and managed a bogey. Two holes later, she more than made up for it on a par 5.

After a tee shot into the rough, she went 160 yards with an 8-iron to come within 8 feet of the hole, then sank a breaking left-to-right putt for the eagle.

"I still knew the job wasn't done yet, because we had been so close most of the day," Kilcrease said. "I just concentrated on at least making pars the rest of the way, which I did on the final six holes."

That was good enough to hold off Madison Holmes of Paragould, who shot a 73 on Wednesday and finished two shots back of the winner.

Kilcrease, who is committed to play at Tulsa, finished second two weeks ago in the Arkansas Women's Amateur Championship at Fayetteville Country Club. She also led Har-Ber to the Class 6A state golf championship in the spring.

Curry carried a two-stroke lead into Wednesday's final round after finishing with a 5-under 67 on Tuesday. His even-par 72 gave him a two-round total of 5-under 139, which was good enough for a two-shot victory.

After setting the pace with birdies on the first three holes Tuesday, he began Wednesday's round with another hot start, getting birdies at No. 1 and No. 3.

He bogeyed three of the next six holes, then sent his tee shot on No. 10 into the water.

"I just knew I had to stay positive and keep hitting the right shots I needed to," said the 16-year-old Curry, a junior at Texarkana, Texas. "My goal was just to stay positive."

He kept his composure and reclaimed his momentum with an eagle on No. 12. That gave him the confidence he needed to hold off the opposition.

"No. 12 got things going again," he said. "Fortunately, I finished out with a lot of pars and got the job done."

It was the second consecutive tournament victory for Curry. Two weeks ago, he won the AJGA Shreveport Junior Tournament at Southern Trace Country Club.

"This tournament was awesome, because you get to play on a great course with some of the best players in Arkansas," said Curry, who has yet to decide where he will go to college. "So, to play well and win this tournament is a great feeling."

There were 69 boys and 19 girls that teed off this week.