Cecily Overbey with Carolina Women's Match Play trophy
(Carolina's Golf Association Photo)
ADVANCE, NC (July 8, 2016) -- Playing on the West
Course at Bermuda Run Country Club defending
champion Mallory Hetzel of Waynesville, N.C. knew that
if she continued to play mistake-free golf and threw in
some birdies, it was going to take an impressive
performance to wrestle away the Carolinas Women’s
Match Play Championship trophy away from her. Cecily
Overbey of High Point, N.C. knew it was going to take a
great showing to move past the two-time defending
champion and into the Final match.
“I knew she was going to hit some really good
shots and I had to just stay patient and stay in the
match,” Overbey said. The match turned into a back
and forth affair featuring high caliber play from both
competitors. Hetzel managed to take a two-up lead into
the back-nine, but Overbey buckled down and won the
11th and 14th holes to square the match.
From there, the Western Carolina University coach and
the North Carolina State University rising junior halved
their way to No. 18. Hetzel hit her approach just inside
of 20 feet but Overbey managed to play an even better
shot, hitting her approach to nine feet. Hetzel left her
putt just short and Overbey capitalized on her
opportunity to knock out the two-time defending
champion.
She knocked in her birdie putt to win one-up and
advance to the Final match. “I had 94 yards in, which is
a perfect distance for me. I hit it to nine feet and then I
saw the line on my putt and rolled it in,” Overbey said.
Kayla Thompson of Whiteville, N.C. and Maddisen
Cox of Easley, S.C. met in the other semifinal match.
Thompson took an early lead after winning the first
hole, but Cox quickly responded, winning the next three
holes to take a two-up lead. The UNC Wilmington rising
junior cut Cox’s lead in half on No. 6, but Cox stretched
the lead back to two-up on No. 7. This type of back and
forth was the story of the match, but Thompson was
never able to square the match. Cox won consecutive
holes at Nos. 14-15 to take a three-up lead with three
to play. The James Madison rising junior punched her
ticket to the Final match with a birdie on No. 16 to win
three-and-two.
Cox once again fell behind early in the final match. This
time, however, coming back proved to be far more
difficult. Overbey carried her impressive play from the
morning match into the final. “I think I was three under,
I was playing really well,” Overbey said.
Those birdies
allowed the Wolfpack golfer to take a commanding four-
up lead to the back nine. Cox had the advantage of
having her sister Morgan Cox, who overcame a four-
hole deficit earlier in the championship, as her caddie.
Perhaps that helped the elder Cox win back-to-back
holes to cut Overbey’s lead in half on No. 11. Cox
proceeded to miss a lengthy birdie putt on No. 12 that
would have gotten her within one. Overbey won the
13th hole to get her lead back to three-up.
Cox looked
to be in position to bounce back and win the 14th hole
until Overbey holed an impressive sixty-foot birdie putt,
which allowed her to keep the momentum and go four-
up. “You definitely can’t expect to make putts like that,
but in match play things like that happen,” Overbey
said.
Overbey carried that momentum to No. 15 and
made yet another birdie to close out Cox five-and-three.
The 19th Carolinas Women’s Match Play is Cecily
Overbey’s first CGA women’s championship.
View results for Carolinas Women's Match Play
ABOUT THE Carolinas Women's Match Play
The Carolinas Women's Amateur Match Play
Championship began in 1997 and annually
crowns the women's amateur match play champion
in the Carolinas. The championship is
conducted at 18 holes of stroke play qualifying to
determine seeding and flights for the
Championship division and seeding for match play in
the Carolinas division (shorter
course). The Championship flight in the
Championship division competes for the
championship and is determined by the top-15
scores in stroke play qualifying. The
Defending Champion is the automatic number one
seed. Players who do not qualify for
the Championship flight in the Championship division
will be placed in flights and seeded
based on qualifying score. The Carolinas division will
play a shorter course and will be pre-
flighted based on Handicap Index. Players will be
seeded within their Carolinas flight
based on qualifying score.
Entry is open to any female amateur golfer who has
reached her 13th birthday, is a legal
resident of North Carolina or South Carolina, is a
member in good standing of a club
which is a member of the Carolinas Golf Association
and has an active GHIN® USGA
Handicap Index®.
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