ANDOVER, Kan. – Sam Farlow was provided a big clue on the second green at Flint Hills National Golf Club.
His opponent in the 18-hole final of the USGA Senior Amateur Championship, Stan Lee, sank an 8-foot par putt to keep the match all square.
“Great putt,” Farlow said to Lee, who uses a long putter.
It would be the first of many great putts for Lee. Live by the putter, die by the putter.
In the long and short of things, Lee lived and Farlow died. The margin of Lee’s victory was 4 and 3, and here were some of putting highlights:
On the 6th green, Lee faced a tricky, sidehill 18-footer for birdie. Doink! After winning Nos. 3 and 4 with pars and No. 6 with a birdie, he was 3-up.
On the 8th green, Lee smashed a 45-foot putt up a hill and watched it break sharply to the right. “It was going so fast, it would have ended up in the trees,” Lee joked.
Except that the hole got in the way, the ball jumping high in the air and falling into the cup.
“There’s no way to beat that,” Farlow said.
By the time Lee sank a 14-foot birdie putt at No. 10, it was clear he was going to putt his way to the title. For the 15-hole duration of the match, Lee was 2-under-par in extremely windy conditions.
Meanwhile, the putting demons were after Farlow. On the 3rd green, he was 40 feet from the hole. His putt traveled 30 feet up a hill and 25 feet back down, leaving him just five feet closer to the hole. He three-putted for bogey.
On the 7th green, Farlow faced a 20-foot birdie putt. He played 10 feet of break, but the putt didn’t break. He ended up 12 feet from the hole. He sank the next putt, but was left shaking his head.
“I didn’t putt very well today,” Farlow said. “In some of the other matches, I putted great. You never know in match play. Anyway, Stan deserved to win this match.”
Lee lives in Heber Springs, Ark., and plays at Lost Creek Golf Club and Red Apple Inn Golf Club. He is an eight-time State Amateur champion in Arkansas (four at medal play, four at match play).
Both Lee and Farlow are former touring pros. Both played briefly on the PGA Tour with Lee finishing second to Jim Simons in the 1977 New Orleans Open.
“I birdied 12, 13, 14 and 15 to tie Simons,” Lee recalled, “and then I three-putted the last three holes. I lost by two.”
Lee’s putter is a Bettinardi Hogan, 47 inches long. For several years, Bob Bettinardi designed putters for the Ben Hogan Co. Jim Furyk won the 2003 U.S. Open with one of the Bettinardi Hogans.
Bettinardi’s name can now be found on Mizuno putters, and these putters are available in two different families -- the A Series and the C Series.
For Farlow, the defeat was disappointing because he advanced to the semifinal round in 2006 and the final in 2007 without taking home a title. He lost to eventual champion Mike Bell in 2006.
Farlow, 60, is a sales representative for a medical equipment manufacturer. He lives in Birmingham, Ala., and plays at Birmingham Country Club.
Lee, 55, is a bank vice president. He became the youngest player ever to win the U.S. Senior Amateur, and his record can be tied but will never be beaten. That’s because he turned 55 on Sept. 1, the opening day of the championship. If he had been born one day later, he would have been too young to enter this year.
“I was introduced at the banquet as the youngest player in the field,” Lee said. “I wasn’t even 55 at the time. I got a lot of grief for that.”
Lee was surprised before the final match by the appearance of Jay Fox, executive director of the Arkansas State Golf Association, and Mac Stubbs, the ASGA director of handicapping.
“They’re two old and dear friends,” Lee said. “They didn’t tell me they were coming.”
Said Fox, “We were going to be there even if we had to charter a plane.”
Actually, they took a seven-hour car ride.
“Even if we wanted to call him, it wouldn’t have done any good,” Fox said. “Stan said he had 120 messages on his cell phone. It was full.
“He was really touched. He said he had no idea that so many people back home cared about him.”
Now all the secrets are out – he has friends who really care, and he has a putter that doesn’t miss.
Posted: 9/6/2007
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