"It's gonna be a dogfight," Ashley says, in the opening of the final matchup with Jeanne -- 18 holes of match play at the Palmer Course, Turtle Bay Resort.
Lots of goodies at stake, as the eliminated contestants from the Golf Channel's reality show, look on,
Boom boom, boom boom (SFX).
Images are courtesy of The Golf Channel, and this schmoe generally has the blow-by.
But ours are here, with screen grabs even:
Big Break V Hawaii - Episode 12
Big Break V Hawaii - Episode 11
Big Break Vi Hawaii - Episode 10
Nikki DeSanto
Big Break V Hawaii - Episode 9
Big Break V Hawaii - Episode 8?
Big Break V Hawaii - Rerun?
Big Break V Hawaii - Episode 7
Big Break V Hawaii - Episode 6
Drive one, par four 340 yards, Jeanne takes five wood, center cut.
Ashley admits to nerves, but stripes her drive as well.
Jeanne, 135 to the hole, graps a nine, urging her ball to "get up." She leaves herself with a 30-footer.
Ashley, slightly shorter, tells herself "you gotta go right at it." She leaves herself an eight-footer for birdie.
Jeanne smokes her putt, rolls it right it. Girls in attendance scream, she's happy, tone's set, Ashley must follow.
Pressure now on Ashley, who has to sink it, just to keep things square. She's in, two birdies open the Finale!
No. 2, 338 yard par four. Jeanne takes aggressive line over bunkers with a driver, Her drive is perfect.
Ashley, same play about ten yards at least, longer.
Jeanne, 130 to the pin, consults with anonymous caddie, hits a shot that sounds good, ends up over the pin, inside of ten yards.
Ashley, 8-iron, sounds good, hits similar shot. Two more shots at birdie, coming up. Dang commercials. Oh yeah, they help pay the freight. Speaking off:
Rent this condo, pulease!
Ashley's putt is close, banking a par. Jeanne's putt is way right.
The match announcer sounds like the guy from Caddyshack, doesn't he? Brian Doyle Murray?
452 yard par 5 No. 3 comin' up! Jeanne's "perfect drive" draws a grin.
Ashley, "really confident" going into the tee shot, gets to the top of the backswing "hears something in the distance" then just comes "completely out of it." She's away, 195 to the front, 200 to the pin. A lucky break. Her topped shot skips on top of the water and ends up dry!
Talk about your Big Breaks!
Jeanne, a better angle, no water in play, takes out three wood,k aims for left edge, leaves it just short.
(They're pimpin' the BBVI during the commercials, but if it's not in Hawaii, we're not gonna care greatly).
Ohh, it's the over-exposed Donald and his overpriced golf course...can't wait not to watch ;)
Ashley leaves her 70-yard pitch short of the green, and Jeanne's going to take out wedge to try to chip it close. It's a kick-in birde! Ashley concedes it, has to knock it in to keep things square. Plays it to break right, it doesn't, she's down one.
Nikki's take: "I wouldn't have given Jeanne that putt." What? It was a kick-in, girl!
Next hole is a par three, water in play, Jeanne hooks and leaves it short, it's wet. Ashley is almost in as well, but her shot to the center of the green is pulled toward the water, but stays just out.
Jeanne takes her drop, 98 yards, gap wedge, it trickles left after landing, and she has a long putt to save bogey.
Ashley's up-and-down attempt: a way short flub!
Jeanne, a good 25-footer for bogey: Skins the hole for a five.
Ashely only needs two putts to square the match, which she does. All-square through 4 holes.
Hole 5, 381 par four, Ashley tells herself to bear down. Both drives are in, but Ashley needs to take a wood into the green, tough shot. She takes it right at the pin, leaving a putt inside of 12 feet.
Jeanne, 150 in, takes 6 iron, pulls it. She has a long putt (35 feet) had vows to "give it a chance."
She relies on her caddy "Matt" to read the putts, just skins it, and leaves a three-footer, which Prange does not give her. (She later sinks it).
Ashley's 12-footer lips out. "I thought it was in," she says. "It caught the bottom edge and lipped out."
370-yard par four No. 6: Ashley's drive ends up in the first cut of rought. Jeanne opts for fairway wood, fades it, and now comes the all important second shot.
Jeanne, gap wedge, spins short. Ashley, guns for the pin, 85 yards away, but leaves it short. That's two short shots she's kinda flubbed, no?
Her putt is close, not in.
Jeanne, for birdie, a similar line to Ashley's, but not close. The exchange of two putts, match remains all-square.
Can't tell you what just happened, owing to domestic issues, but, both players have teed off on the next hole and are safely in play.
Jeanne 103 yards to pin with a gap wedge, it flies farther than she expected, but there was water in the front. She's safely on, around 20 feet coming back.
Ashley, 54-degree wedge, almost drops it into the hole on the fly, around six feet.
"Sensational," host Nick C. says.
Damn show's been on an hour, they're not even through 9. How long, oh lord, how long?
Jeanne's putt downhill is aggressive, nearly goes in. Two putt, par.
Prange's much shorter one is an awful attempt and through 7 holes, it remains square.
No 8, 167 yard Par 3: Ashely look's hacked off after missing the putt. Her tee shot is safely on, well short. She smolders on the sidelines. Jeanne let's fly, and is also well short.
Jeanne's putt is well off, a long putt for par left. Prange's putt almost drops, but her par is assure. Jeanne is now left with a some-odd footer, makeable, but too firm and misses left. Ashley is 1-up through 8 by virtue of Jeanne's 3-putt.
Now who's steamed?
No. 9, par 5, 511 yards. Prange's second shot heads for the hazard, but out of sight A spotter gives the safe sign.
Jeanne's approach is a tad short of the green.
With the lie, apparently in a divot, Ashley punches out into the rough on the other side. She flops her fourth shot to within a foot.
Jeanne just has to get up and down to win the hole, and entirely flubs it, leaving herself with a tough up and down just to halve the hole. She flies the chip a bit farther than expected and leaves herself with another putt that she pulls for bogey.
Through 9, Ashley is 2 up by virtue of Jeanne's back-to-back bogeys. In addition, in the front nine, Prange catches two big breaks, when one shot flirting with the hazard skips out, and another stays out because it finds a divot just outside the hazard.
On No. 10, Prange's on in regulation and Jeanne's in the bunker, giving the appearance of wilting under the pressure. Not looking like she's having fun She has a nice out, but, no roll. The 12-footer lips out for bogey No. 3.
Right now, it's looking like it's not her day. Ashley drains the five-footer. Prange 3 up through 10.
As noted earlier, the suspicion was Prange won the Big Break, as, it's already been published that she's won a Futures Tour event. There are so many benefits of winning the Big Break -- the travel comped, the new equipment, the fees paid, the training assistance -- it would be hard to believe she won that entirely on her own.
Playing out the string now, 2-down, eight holes left
No. 11: Ashley's again on in regulation, Jeanne still needs to get up and down just to halve it. Prange two-putts, Jeanne needs to sink a five footer to avoid slipping four down. No, yet another bogey.
No. 12, par five, Ashley's on in two, Jeanne, laying up, is again behind the eight-ball. She halves the hole (technical difficulties here)
No. 13, Jeanne bogeys again on a par three. It's virtually over with Ashely's par. Dormie. She's five up with five to play.
No. 14, both on in regulation. Jeanne's birdie putt is around 2 1/2 feet short. Merciful heaven, let Ashley two-putt make this putt so we don't have listen to her any more.
A three footer to end it. No problem, whew! Tears wiped. Hugs exchanged. New car.
"Unbelievable," she says. "I was in shock, I was excited I was happy I was, in a whirldwind, million emotions in one."
THE END
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The pros are on neighboring Maui this week, competing in the first official PGA Tour event of the year, the Mercedes Championship at Kapalua Resort.
