The Minneapolis Golfweek Amateur Tour hosted its third points event of the year at The Refuge Golf Course in Oak Grove MN Saturday, June 13^th.  The course was in beautiful condition and the weather worked hard to stay nice.

Champ Flight welcomed Jake Gusa from the North Central Florida tour and newly engaged, returning player Jason Rhoades (Congrats to Jason and Stacy!), along with veterans Matthew Foehse and Tyler Metkowski.

Competition was close through the first five holes until Jason got his mind off his engagement and birdied holes 7 and 9 to make the turn at 2-under par 34.  Jake and Matthew were tied for 2^nd both shooting respectable scores of 40. 

Jason continued with a birdie on 10 but Jake wasn’t intimidated and put a birdie in right on top of Jason.  The steady play continued for Jake while Jason struggled a little bit giving Jake a little hope.  Jason held it together enough to take his first win of the season shooting a 76 with Jake coming in 2^nd only 3 shots behind shooting a 79.

A flight welcomed new tour member Winn Bartlett where he faced our two top A flight players, Scott Kaiser and Kevin Watson.  Winn worked through some first event jitters while Kevin jumped out to an early lead only to relinquish it to Scott on the fourth hole and Scott wouldn’t let it go.

Scott rounded the turn birdying both holes 9 and 10 to put an exclamation point on his round and solidify the fact he was not going to make it easy for Kevin or Winn.  The steady play continued giving Scott his second win of the season shooting an 83 with Kevin and Winn tying for 2^nd shooting the same scores I was asked not to publish.

B flight yet again had the largest field and also welcomed a new member to the tour, Tom Schooley.  Competitive golf for any level golfer adds an exciting element to the game.  Playing with Tom were veteran players Larry Caldwell and Doug Bird.

The competition was tight throughout the round with all the players utilizing the triple bogey max rule making it anyone’s event to win.  Larry and Doug were the low scores at the turn shooting a 42 and 43 respectively while close behind was Steven Holland and Bob Santee.

It came down the last three holes where Larry stayed steady and took his first points win of the season.

C flight saw returning player Dan Kritsberg playing in his first event of the year against Tom Blaido and Jimmy Schomaker.  It was a rough day for all three of the players and especially rough for Dan who had to withdraw after just 6 holes due to a returning injury.

Neither Tom nor Jimmy felt they had a chance when actually they were neck and neck.  Jimmy led at the turn shooting a 46 with Tom just 4 shots behind shooting a 50.  Tom picked up his game a little on the back while Jimmy stumbled a little.

Much to Jimmy’s surprise, he takes his second win of the season shooting a decent score of 94, with Tom coming in just three shots behind shooting a 97.

D flight again brought out the two hottest sticks on the tour, Bill Mlodgenski and Larry Smith.  Larry started strong, let Bill back in for a couple holes, then came back around on the front to make the turn with a 2 shot lead over Bill (and a 4 shot lead over their playing companion in C Flight). 

Larry continued his taunting of Bill on the back nine letting him think he had a chance only to reel Bill back in.  They tied scores on the back nine which gave Larry the 2 shot win over Bill coming in with an even 100 and Bill with a 102.

Another great event in the books at a course that was in beautiful condition!

Congratulations again to Jason and Stacy on their engagement as well as a Congratulations to Josh from The Refuge on the birth of their second child Thursday, June 11^th.

The Minneapolis Golfweek Amateur Tour hosted it's first even "Open" event at Pheasant Hills Golf Course in Hammond Wisconsin on Saturday, May 23rd (Memorial Weekend).

The purpose of the event was to give players the opportunity to check out the tour prior to becoming a member.   The tour welcomed a new member, had another check out the tour as a guest, and had the pleasure of the company of a previous member that was able to sneak away for a day to experience a little competition once again.

New member Tony Holland joined the tour with the intention of playing in A flight but volunteered to play in Champ flight for this event for the additional competition.  Not intimidated by playing with tour veteran Jason Rhoades or previous tour member JB Lundeen, Tony made the turn 1 under par and 5 shots ahead of JB and Jason.

His steady play continued on the back following his 1 under front nine with a 1 over back nine to card what I think is our first par round on the tour and taking first place by 2 shots over JB and 5 over Jason.

B flight welcomed Al Barstad as guest and returning member Eric Holen playing in his first event against veterans Santee, Holland, and Caldwell.  Competition was really close with all the players within 3 shots of each other at the turn.

It took Larry Caldwell shooting a 2 over 38 on the back to determine the winner.  Larry gets the win by only one shot over Eric carding an impressive score of 77 and Eric shooting an equally impressive score of 78.

Both C and D Flight gave us our first tie situations of the year.  Tom Blaido tied with his opponent only to take the win in the paper, scissors, rock playoff (he actually played  un-contested due to 2 last minute cancellations).

D flight saw Bill Mlodgenski with a 2 shot lead at the turn only to give exactly that back to Larry Smith on the back ending the day with both players shooting a 93.  Taking the win on the first hole of the scorecard playoff was Bill Mlodgenski shooting a par on the #1 handicap hole and Larry carding a bogey.