LOWELL — Molly Smith was trying to break through a glass ceiling using a driver. The Westford resident and Mt. Pleasant golfer collected three birdies over her first 16 holes to go 1-under and maintain a one-shot lead heading into the home stretch of the 99th Lowell City Golf Tournament on Saturday at Long Meadow.
Going into the 18th hole, she was tied for the lead with Long Meadow’s Trevor Drew. They remained tied, forcing an extra holes situation. As daylight slipped away, Smith and Drew returned to the ninth/18th tee to play that hole again, the championship hanging in the balance.
Smith was shooting to become the first-ever woman to win the 48-player tournament in its near-century long history. Smith’s older sister, Morgan, became the first female to play in the tournament in 2019. Tyngsboro’s Drew caught his second wind, earning five birdies, including back-to-back ones on holes 15-16, giving Smith a run for her money.
Mt. Pleasant’s Chris Gentle, who fired an opening round 80 only to roar back, emerged from the field to sit third at 1-over with two holes to play. Gentle finished with a 4-under 68 to surge up the leaderboard.
The players had to deal with persistent rain and a couple of heavy downpours. Vesper’s Andrew Conway, who was at 3-over at 16, was fourth at presstime. It was a fight to the finish for Smith having to fend off Conway, Drew and Gentle on multiple occasions.
“Molly has been playing great golf all around,” said her sister, Morgan Smith..
