The Refuge
Posted: 8/2/2011 7:33:55 PM

Minneapolis/St. Paul Tour:  July 30th, The Refuge

The Minneapolis/St. Paul Golfweek Amateur tour held its sixth tournament Saturday, July 30th at The Refuge in Oak Grove, MN

The weather finally decided to not play a major part of an event on the Minneapolis tour this year.  This was the first event of the year that didn’t have some sort of warning or watch the players needed to be aware of.  Both the temperature and humidity were high although there was a slight breeze which made the conditions bearable.   

Both the Championship flight and the “A” flight had players that were uncontested.  Jason Rhoades played in his 6th event of the year in Championship flight and yet again proved he belongs there shooting an impressive score of 73.  Doug Bird, also playing in his 6th event of the year, hit the ball well and managed the course but proved the old adage to be true, “you drive for show and putt for dough”.

 “B” flight yet again brought the largest field to the event and included our newest member to the tour, Dan Barrett.  The many dog legs along with fast, undulating greens separated the field right from the start.  At the turn there was already nine strokes separating first and last place with Dan Barrett holding a one stroke lead over tour veteran Cory Brathol.  The back nine evened the field out a little bit with three players shooting a 44 and only 2 shots separating most of the field.  Cory Brathol was one of the players shooting a 44 and was able to take first place for his second event of the year over Dan Barrett shooting a 46.

“C” flight welcomed back three tour veterans and proved to be our closest competition for all the flights.  Victor Lucio and Bill Mlodgenski were tied at the turn with Dan Bentzlin just two shots behind.  Dan Bentzlin burned up the back nine shooting the second lowest score on the back for all flights bettering his front nine score by 6 strokes while Bill Mlogenski only bettered his score by two.  This gave both Dan and Bill a final score of 92 with Bill winning for the third time on tour by a score card playoff on the first handicap hole.

A special thank you to The Refuge Golf Course for hosting a great event as well as event sponsor, tour supporter, Eric Holen of Holen1 Golf, LLC.  The continued support of the tour with contest prizes are appreciated! (www.holen1golf.com).

A special shout out and congratulations to Eric Holen of Holen1 Golf, LLC on the birth of the first child!

Our next event is at The Links at Northfork (www.golfthelinks.com), Saturday, August 13th.  Deadline to register is Thursday, August 4th.