Deb Hughes of Denver and Christie Austin of Cherry Hills Village were the contestants involved, but at the end of the day, the difference in Thursday’s final of the CWGA Senior Match Play may have come down to a small green drain cover sitting 30 feet in front of the 18th green at Lone Tree Golf Club.
In a tight match in which both players led at various times, Austin had evened things up with a 14-foot putt on No. 17 — the first birdie actually holed by either player in the finals.
On the decisive par-4 18th, Austin’s approach rolled just off the left side of the green. Then Hughes, with a half wedge into the green, hit the shot heavy. Defying the odds, though, the ball struck the small green drain cover. And instead of being left with a lengthy chip over a ridge, Hughes watched as her ball took a big hop and settled on the green, just over that ridge.
“I’ve never seen such a thing in all my born days,” Hughes remarked with a smile as she walked to the green.
“I just missed the shot,” she added later. “I’d like to say I meant to do it, but it was pure luck.”
After Austin left herself a 4-foot par attempt, Hughes took advantage of her good fortune by holing a birdie putt for the first time all day. With that 15-footer giving her the CWGA Senior Match Play title with a 1-up victory, Hughes flung her arms in the air and ran toward the hole (pictured above), then gave big hugs to her supporters on hand.
After playing in CWGA championships for years and finishing second in the 2012 Senior Match Play and the 2013 Senior Stroke Play, Hughes earned her first CWGA title.
“I’ve worked for this,” she said, fighting back emotions. “Getting up at 4 in the morning, going out and practicing. Thank God Alex, my wife, is understanding because I’m never home during the summer. This has been my goal for probably a good seven years, and I’ve been working hard at it. I’m so glad the moment wasn’t bigger than I am.”
Austin, a former USGA Executive Committee member who won the Senior Match Play title in 2007, tried to take the events on the 18th hole in stride.
“We all get good and bad bounces. It’s just part of the game so you’ve just got to accept it,” she said. “I should not have let it get to that point. My short game wasn’t real sharp today and I three-putted a couple of times when I shouldn’t (below). I kind of blame it on myself.
“You get good breaks, you get bad breaks. She happened to get a good one on 18 and took advantage of it. She would have been chipping up there, which is a whole different story (than putting). But good for her. We had a good match. Good for Deb. She’s so excited. It makes me happy when I see someone (react like that). Of course I’m disappointed, but it’s great to see her so overwhelmed (with joy).”
It was certainly a roller-coaster of a match.
Austin led 1 up in the middle of the front nine, Hughes was 1 up after seven holes, and things were all square through nine. On the back side, Hughes was 2 up through 12, but Austin squared the match twice coming down the stretch.
On the par-4 17th, the golfer from Cherry Hills Country Club put her approach shot on the back fringe, just 14 feet from the cup. After a couple of different looks — and conferring with caddie/husband Bob (below) — Austin drained the putt for her first birdie of the match.
Hughes had a 10-foot birdie attempt to halve the hole, but settled for par.
“All the credit goes to Christie for making that birdie putt because these greens are wicked,” Hughes said. “If she didn’t make that putt she might have lost the match. But she made the putt. Good for her for doing that. That takes a lot of skill, a lot of nerve.”
Hughes admitted that the moment almost got to her on that penultimate green.
“I forgot to breathe on 17,” the 56-year old from Green Valley Ranch Golf Club said. “I had to bend over and get some oxygen (before her birdie putt). I was too caught up in the moment. My emotions were getting the best of me and I had to stop it.”
Then there was that amazing bounce that led to the match-deciding birdie on No. 18. While Hughes had been conceded a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 12 when Austin was out of the hole, that was Hughes’ first holed-out birdie putt of the day.
“Just in time, right?” she said with a smile.
Suffice it to say it was a welcome turnaround after she three-putted three consecutive holes in the middle of the back nine.
“I’d been missing putts to both sides all day — left and right, left and right. I’d never centered one,” said Hughes (left). “I told myself to roll it and get through the ball with the putter, and fortunately it dropped.”
Hughes didn’t pick up golf until after she retired from a successful competitive softball career at age 44.
“It’s been a work in progress,” she said of her golf game. “When I played competitive softball, I’ve been on teams that have won both world and national championships. But (golf) is just me. There’s nowhere to hide. There’s no one to pick you up other than your caddie. A lot of hard work has paid off.”
CWGA Senior Match Play Championship
At Lone Tree GC
Championship Final — Deb Hughes, Green Valley Ranch GC, def. Christie Austin, Cherry Hills CC, 1 up
Championship Flight Consolation Final — Kathy Malpass, Hiwan GC, def. LeAnna Rosenow, West Woods GC, 3 and 1.
For the Senior Match Play Tree, CLICK HERE.
