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Chattanooga: Cothran outlasts Masick for city title

By: David Uchiyama
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Haley Cothran

The love is obvious.

Stride for stride, Haley Cothran walked from the 18th green with an arm around her brother and one of his around her on up to the patio.

They stopped for a few pictures — she smiled big enough to reveal her braces — some hugs and dozens of congratulatory words on their way up the steps at Black Creek Club to where trophies were sitting.

Cothran claimed the biggest of them after defeating Patricia Masick 1-up in the Chattanooga Women’s Amateur Championship on Saturday morning.

“I’m really close to my sister, so to get to caddie for her this week was incredible,” said Kyle Cothran, who plays golf at Georgia Southern University. “I’m so proud of her, and I think it brought us even a little bit closer.”

Leading 3-up after five holes and again after 11, his sister seemed to be on her way to a convincing victory.

That wasn’t the case. They needed all 18 holes to determine a champion. And they were inches from a playoff.

“I knew it was going to be close,” Masick said. “Haley is really good, so I’m not ashamed to lose to her today.”

Masick, who was down by one heading into No. 18, tapped a birdie putt that came to rest a few inches from the cup. She and Cothran conceded tap-ins on that final hole before hugging and celebrating a competitive match.

“All I thought out there was about getting pars, being consistent and hit fairways and greens,” said Cothran, a Soddy-Daisy High School sophomore. “I wanted to always be in position and then get it up there on the green.”

She succeeded with the simple goals.

Masick pulled within two on No. 7 and owned the first tee shot for the next five holes as they matched each other. But Masick conceded the par-3 11th after hitting her tee shot long into a bunker and then over the green into another pit of sand.

“My round could have been over quickly,” said the Chattanooga Christian School senior.

The match went from 3-up to all-squared in a matter of three holes as Cothran made a double-bogey and two bogeys.

A runaway turned into a fierce competition.

“It was a little nerve-racking,” said Cothran, who won her quarterfinal match after being 2-down with two to play against Jordan Britt. “But I knew I had some holes left, so I wasn’t going to give up, because I never quit.”

Hole No. 16 determined the match, and it took a bit of assistance from Cothran’s brother on the bag.

“I was about 150 yards out, and I was thinking about a 5-iron,” Haley said. “But he suggested a 7-wood because he said, ‘You’ve been hitting that good and you’ll kill it on the green.’

“He was right.”

Cothran two-putted and Masick three-putted at a hole location very close to where Nationwide Tour players have to putt on the final day of the Chattanooga Classic.

Both parred the final two holes and Cothran walked away, stride for stride, with her brother and the trophy.

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