HOT SPRINGS VILLAGE -- Garland County's lone representative took on a soon-to-be Arkansas Golf Hall of Famer and didn't blink.
Keyed by a hot start, Lakeside 2014 graduate Kirsten Garner defeated Russellville's Julie Oxendine, a November Hall of Fame inductee, 2 and 1 during the first round of the Arkansas State Golf Association Women's Match Play Wednesday at DeSoto Golf Course.
"Obviously, it's exciting, but I don't think of Julie as some big Hall of Famer because I've played with her so many times," Garner said. "I actually played with her my first women's event. She's mostly a friend, so it's just relaxed and fun playing with her. She makes it really fun."
Garner, incoming junior at Arkansas State, faces top seed Taylor Loeb of Maumelle, youngest in the field and recently graduated from Mount St. Mary Academy, in today's semifinals. Medalist Loeb, signed with Henderson State, earned a first-round bye after shooting 1-over-par 73 Tuesday.
"I feel pretty good about it," Garner said. "Taylor is a good player, but I feel pretty confident, especially after today."
Garner quickly built her confidence with birdies on three of her first five holes. She and Oxendine halved the opening hole, but Garner led the rest of the match.
"I had three birdies in my first five holes, and that was fantastic," Garner said. "I had my caddie here helping me out (younger brother Carson). But then I made a double (bogey) on seven, but I ended up shooting 1 under through nine so I knew I had some good momentum going. I was 1-, 2- and 3-up the rest of my round, so I knew I had to just stay calm and keep it going."
Garner made three bogeys over her final eight holes, but Oxendine could never square the match. She pulled within two with a par on No. 15 but missed a shot birdie putt on the 17th that would have extended the match.
"I knew that I was getting kind of tired and kind of tensed up a little bit," Garner said. "But I just knew that the birdies on the front were going to help me get through it."
The Loeb-Garner winner faces the winner between seventh-seeded Sarah Wright of Fayetteville and sixth-seeded Libby Croom of Russellville. Wright, an incoming junior at Henderson State, downed reigning champion Heather Wall of Lake Village on the 19th hole.
"That was the best match I've ever had," Wright exclaimed while turning in her score.
Croom, the 2014 Match Play champion, pulled her upset against the reigning State Women's Amateur winner, knocking off Arkansas-Little Rock junior-to-be Peyton Weaver of Bryant 1-up.
In the senior division, Bismarck's Carrie Hall effectively bounced back from nearly losing three-peat bid in qualifying, knocking off medalist Donna Mahle of Hot Springs Village 5 and 4. That margin proved popular in the first flight, Rhonda Haynes beating Catherine Walsh in an all-HSV clash and Sandra Smit, also of HSV, besting Marianna's Paula Curtis.
Haynes and Smit face each other in the semis while Hall takes on another HSV resident, Katie Speir, who defeated Star City's Paula Moore 1-up.
The highlight of the lower flights was Camden's Linda Carter surviving a 21-hole match with Kathy Norris of HSV in the second flight. In the third, Jeanne Miller outlasted Beth Mason in a 20-hole, all-Little Rock contest.
Sports on 07/14/2016