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Kinney edged for title in state juniors Drew Fleming photo By Don Hunt GRANTS PASS � Jill Ferrante putted so poorly during the qualifying round of the State Junior Match Play Championships that she abandoned her cross-handed technique and went back to a conventional style of putting. The switch worked wonders. Ferrante shot even-par golf through 17 holes to stun medalist Tai Kinney 3 and 1 in the title match of the junior division (15-17) at Grants Pass Golf Course. "I had to do something," Ferrante said of changing back to her old style of putting, something she hadn�t done in more than two years. The idea came from her father, Don Ferrante, who taught Jill to play golf when she was 9. The family drove down from Battle Ground, Wash., for the tournament. "She kept lifting her head and peaking (when she was putting cross-handed), and it was pulling her putts off line," Don Ferrante explained. "I just thought it would be good to go back to her old style and see if she could have some success. She was really struggling." Ferrante spent two to three hours each day this week on the practice green brushing up on her old style of putting. She started out slowly Friday, bogeying two of the first seven holes and falling two holes down. But she got one of them back on the eighth hole when Kinney uncharacteristically three-putted. Then Ferrante tied the match on the 10th when she drained a 6-foot birdie putt. She then took the lead for good on the 11th when Kinney hit into a water hazard. "That putt on 10 was the turning point for me," said Ferrante, who at 15 was one of the youngest competitors in the junior division. "Up until that hole, I had had only one other birdie in the tournament. I could feel my confidence go up right there." Ferrante parred the next six holes and then finished off Kinney with another birdie on the 172-yard, par-3 17th when she stuffed her tee shot within 8 feet of the cup and made the putt. "I knew that last putt was going to fall," said Ferrante, a sophomore-to-be at Battle Ground High. "I wanted to finish with a birdie." Kinney, who was seeking her third title of the summer, posted the top score in qualifying with a 4-over-par 77 and had cruised to three straight victories prior to Friday. "I didn�t make the putts today and just didn�t play very well in general," said the 17-year-old Kinney, who will be a senior this fall at North Medford High. "But give Jill credit. She deserved to win." Ferrante underwent surgery on her left elbow in January to relieve a painful tendinitis condition and missed about half of the high school season. Only in the past few weeks has it felt completely healed, she said. And now her putting is on the mend, too. In that same division in the first flight, Abby Fowler of Rogue Valley Country Club defeated Kerri Breslin of Riverside for the title, 2 and 1. In the junior boys division, Chris Dukeminier of Eugene Country Club posted a 2-and-1 victory Kyle Sultzer of Persimmon. Rogue Valley�s Mike Nieto won the Pee Wee Boys second flight on the 10th hole over Zachary Caldwell of Langdon Farms. In the third flight, Christian Bernard of Bear Creek defeated Kevin Smith of Juniper, 5 and 4. Katie Davis of Grants Pass lost in the Intermediate Girls Division finals to Jessica Black of Broken Top, 4 and 3, and in the first flight, Kacie Kinney, Tai�s sister, fell to Brianna Gilmour of Willamette Valley, 4 and 2. In the third flight of the Intermediate Boys Division, Nick Daggitt of Cedar Links lost 6 and 4 to Matt Nordurft of Oregon Golf Club. Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA