Staff Photo by Angela Lewis Foster
Allyson Dunn plays in the Tennessee Women's Amateur Friday, June 26, 2015 at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club.The locals were long gone, either having cannibalized each other in match play or having lost to the finalists in the Tennessee Women's Amateur golf tournament.
Such a scenario left Belmont's Katie Story facing Tennessee Tech's Allyson Dunn competing for the prized Probasco trophy.
Only one could hoist it Friday afternoon at Chattanooga Golf and Country Club.
Dunn did it.
Dunn, with the assistance of her father Mark as a caddie, defeated Story 2 up in a match that Dunn led for most of morning but couldn't finish until the 18th hole.
"At some points, I wasn't sure if we were going to be able to do it or not," said Dunn, a Kingsport resident who transferred from East Tennessee State this summer. "This week has really opened my eyes to the potential I have, and the belief I have in myself.
"This tournament tests your stamina, your mental strength and how you are emotionally."
Dunn survived the test better than any of the other 50 competitors in the championship flight. She tied for sixth in the stroke-play qualifying and earned the No. 8 seed entering the start of match play Wednesday.
She opened with a 2 and 1 win, then won by scores of 6 and 5, another 6 and 5 that dismissed the top seed and 3 and 1 before Friday's final.
Then Dunn had to face Story, who had been dubbed "Katie Comeback" by tournament chairman Linda Mullins because she trailed in almost every match - including rallies to dismiss Chattanooga's Blakesly Warren and Ooltewah's Samantha Griffith - and played at least 18 holes in each of her five matches.
"I love match play," Dunn said. "That's my favorite type of golf. This is really the only match-play tournament we play, so every year I've said, 'I really want to win this event.'"
She did.
Dunn did so by keeping the cover on her driver, using a 4 wood off the tee, dropping midrange putts, hitting clever wedges when necessary and putting pressure on her opponents. Tennessee Tech coach Polk Brown said Dunn never trailed in her five matches.
"I try to get out ahead early and put pressure on you," Dunn said. "I trust my swing."
Dunn followed that plan Friday morning on the front nine, as commercial boats chugged up the Tennessee River beside the historic course. Dunn led 3 up through six holes before Story won No. 7 with a birdie.
"When it started, I wasn't hitting it well," said Story, who resides in Dickson. "I was hitting shots thin and I was hittng shots chunky, so I wasn't having good contact.
"She got a lot at the beginning of the match, and it's hard to fight back."
Story, who dyed part of her hair puple, enjoyed a cookout with frog legs and fish and then was caught Thursday evening in the Ooltewah interstate accident during her stay with Griffith this week, won No. 10 with a birdie to pull within one. But Dunn won No. 11 with a birdie. Story closed the gap to one again when Dunn bogeyed No. 15.
"The momentum was back and forth all day," Dunn said. "I didn't feel comfortable. It could have been anybody's match at the end."
That was certainly the case after Story squared the match by sinking a left-to-right putt on No. 16 for birdie.
Only two holes remained and they were tied. Mullins' moniker for Story seemed appropriate at the moment.
But Story pulled her tee shot on No. 17 into the rough left of the fairway. Her next shot came up short of the elevated green, settled in a drain and required a free drop. While weighing her options, Story knew that Dunn hit her shot on the green and would probably two-putt.
"I went under the ball on my approach, and when I dropped, it was on a down slope and that's not ideal for a flop-shot," Story said. "I would have had to hit it exactly perfect to get it close."
She did not, which sent the championship match to the 18th with Dunn 1 up.
The final hole at CGCC has been nominated for numerous awards in contests for the best par-3 as well as the best finishing hole.
It finished off Story.
"I thought I hit the perfect club (8 iron), but it faded and was just a little short," she said. "I had to give that putt (from off the green) a good run. I missed by what, two inches?"
After Dunn settled her birdie putt close to the hole, Story conceded and Dunn won.
Pam Morrow of Athens won the fourth flight 1 up against Knoxville's Carol Hornstra, but other area players lost the first-, second- and third-flight finals.
Contact David Uchiyama at duchiyama@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6484. Follow him at twitter.com/UchiyamaCTFP