Sarah Bell claims Prairie Invitational title for her first career tournament win

Last summer, Sarah Bell felt confident enough heading into her freshman season of golf at Oral Roberts. She was coming off back-to-back state titles at Notre Dame Regional High School in Cape Girardeau, Mo., and she knew her resume was in good shape.

Yet even in June, when she was named the Summit League Newcomer of the Year for her school-record 73.7 stroke average and six top-10 finishes, she still couldn’t shake one reaction: surprise.

“I actually wouldn’t have thought that I was going to be that good this freshman year,” Bell said. “I thought it was going to be a huge transition with school and being away from family.”

She keeps surprising herself.

On Wednesday afternoon, Bell used a total score of 7-over 223 to win the Open Division of the Prairie Invitational, a golf tournament held at the National Golf Club of Kansas City.

It’s her first tournament win.

“I’m just so humbled and honored to win this tournament,” Bell said, “or even just to make the cut. I’ve never played in this tournament before, but I heard it’s a great tournament. This course is absolutely breathtaking. I love the layout. It has so much character to it.”

Bell, who shot a 74, 78 and 71 in rounds one, two and three, respectively, took home a $532 purse for her efforts. She birdied holes Nos. 1, 6, 13 and 14 to win the tournament by two strokes.

The last two were crucial because Sera Tadokoro, the leader at that point, fell a couple shots back when she double bogeyed hole No. 16. So when Bell made par on hole No. 17, a club official approached her.

“Well, somebody in this group is in the lead,” he told Bell, who didn’t know where she stood on the leader board.

Bell’s response: “Oh, OK. Well there’s pressure.”

As it turned out, it was the good kind.

“Once I heard that,” Bell said, “I was like, ‘Sarah, just cancel out the voices. Just stay strong. Just let the birdies fall in. If you make par, great. Whatever happens happens.’”

An incoming junior golfer at Kansas, Tadokoro took second, shooting a total score of 9-over 225. Overland Park native Whitney Pyle claimed third place, while two players tied for fourth place.

It was the way Bell played on holes 13 and 14, though, that separated her from the pack.

“No. 13 has always been the birdie hole for me,” Bell said, “where it’s short, I have a wedge in. Normally, I’m pretty solid with my wedges. I’m like, ‘I can stick it real close.’ Although I didn’t stick it as close as I wanted, I still made my putt.

“On 14, I still had the same thing. I wasn’t sure where the slope was going to be going. It was hard to see up that hill. The pin position was kind of confusing for me, so I was like, ‘You know, just hit the distance that you know where you’re going to hit it,’ and I stuck it to about eight to 10 feet. Then I made it.”

Bell picked a good tournament to play in, and at a good time. Temperatures in Parkville didn’t exceed 85 degrees on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday, and the wind on Wednesday didn’t gust at more than 5 mph.

“That’s just absolutely perfect weather,” Bell said.

As for what she plans to do with the prize money, well, she doesn’t have to go far.

On Sunday, Bell and her mother walked in to a shop at the National Golf Club to browse around. Bell, knowing the putter she uses doesn’t fit her stroke the way she’d like it to, saw the putter she figured would.

“I was like, ‘That’s the putter I want,’” Bell said. “I like that putter.”

Then, she saw the price tag. She recoiled. Let’s wait a little bit, she thought to herself.

Now, though, with $532 more to her name, Bell will embark on her next tournament with that exact putter.

She might even be less surprised at her next win.

“Winning this tournament means so much,” Bell said. “It’s going to put my ranking up. I’ll be able to come back here. It’s just so amazing.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2019 at 6:41 PM.