By Alex Blumer
Enquirer contributor

After dominating play at the Women's Met all week, Mary Ann Plunkett found herself in the unfamiliar position of trailing by two holes after the front nine Friday.

Mary Ann Plunkett watches her tee shot on the ninth. (Gary Landers photo)

But Plunkett showed a champion's mettle by storming back to win five of the last eight holes to defeat Kim Keyer-Scott 2 and 1 and capture the 89th annual Sterling Cut Glass Women's Metropolitan Amateur Championship at Coldstream Country Club.

"Being down early in a match to someone as consistent as Kim is not what you want," said Plunkett, 20, who will play for Florida Southern University next season. "There's a reason she's the No. 2 seed."

Keyer-Scott capitalized on shaky play by Plunkett to win the first two holes. She regained the 2-up lead at the turn when Plunkett bogeyed the ninth.

"Yesterday I was playing not to lose, and today I was playing to win," said Keyer-Scott, the Great Lakes Valley Conference Golfer of the Year last season at Northern Kentucky University.

It could have been a more lopsided lead for Keyer-Scott were it not for some excellent recoveries by Plunkett after poor tee shots to halve 3, 5, and 8.

Keyer-Scott's title hopes began to unravel with a bogey on 10, the first of three straight.

"Fortunately, Kim had a bad hole on 10 and gave me a little bit of a break," Plunkett said. "I was just trying to get the momentum swinging my way."

Keyer-Scott lost the 12th in especially agonizing fashion, lipping out a short putt that would've halved the hole.

Sensing the opening, Plunkett then birdied 13 and 14, burying a 25-foot putt on the latter to go 2 up.

"Putting saved me all week," Plunkett said. "My driving and irons just started to go everywhere."

Keyer-Scott put herself on the brink by missing another short putt on 15. Needing to win the last three holes just to force a playoff, Keyer-Scott curved in a nice par putt on 16 to get within two.

Both parred the 17th, though, clinching the 2-and-1 victory for Plunkett.

"I was pretty happy with my match; she just played the back nine better than I did," Keyer-Scott said. "Unfortunately, golf is 18 holes, not nine."

Plunkett, who captured the Florida State Amateur title in May, said this victory was more nerve-wracking.

"Pressure-wise, I think this was harder because it's my hometown," Plunkett said. "I knew I had a crowd (of friends and family), and I didn't want to disappoint them."