Publications » State Stroke Play Championship
Postillion
captures AWGA title 
John Davis
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 26, 2005 12:00 AM
With her energy low, Kerry Postillion was searching for a way to reach the finish in the Arizona Women's Golf Association's State Stroke Play Championship.
She found it by knocking in a birdie putt on the third playoff hole under scorching sun Thursday at Moon Valley Country Club to edge four-time champ Tui Selvaratnam.
It was the first AWGA event entered by Postillion, a Forest Highlands Golf Club member from Burr Ridge, Ill.
Selvaratnam, who won this event four consecutive times from 2000-03 and captured her first State Amateur Match Play title in May, took a 1-shot lead into the final round, but was trailing by 4 through 14 holes. The former Arizona State golfer erased the deficit with birdies on the 15th and 18th holes, with Postillion making bogeys on both.
On the 18th, which features a severe split-level green, Selvaratnam hit an approach shot from 158 yards that stopped 3 feet behind the hole and made the birdie putt. Postillion's shot stopped on the back fringe, and she ran her downhill putt 30 feet past the hole, resulting in a bogey.
"To be honest, I thought it was over," she said. "As soon as I hit the putt and it popped off the edge of the fringe, I thought it cost me the whole tournament. I knew we were close but I didn't know if it was one shot (difference) or two, and when Tui birdied I thought that might be it."
Selvaratnam also made a clutch 8-foot par putt on the second playoff hole, but her approach on the next hole sailed 20 yards over the green, leaving her with a difficult flop shot over a bunker. Postillion's shot from 92 yards stopped 10 feet from the hole and she made the birdie putt.
Postillion shot 70 and Selvaratnam 71 to finish at 209.
