StoneRidge GC - Saturday, September 10th
Posted: 9/11/2011 11:00:20 AM

Minneapolis/St. Paul Tour:  September 10th, StoneRidge GC

The Minneapolis/St. Paul Golfweek Amateur tour held its ninth tournament Saturday, September 10th at StoneRidge GC in Stillwater, MN

With only one local event left for the season the weather decided to give us our first absolutely perfect day.  It was sunny and the temperature was in the mid 80’s with a slight breeze to take the edge off of the heat.

Championship flight welcomed newly promoted from “A” flight Dean Sengstock against JB Lundeen.  Even though there was some anxiousness as well as questions on the promotion, Dean proved he was up to the challenge by carding an impressive 81 on a very difficult course.  JB proved not only that he was human, but also reinforced the fact that golf is a very difficult game, by carding a very uncharacteristic 44 on the front nine and 42 on the back giving him a solid second place and Dean his first win in championship flight.

 “A” flight welcomed yet again two newly promoted players Dan Barrett and Larry Caldwell.  They were pitted against the two freshly promoted “A” flight players Cory Brathol and Chris McArthur.  Larry started out strong birdying the first two holes giving him a two (2) shot lead over Cory and three (3) shots over Chris.  Unfortunately that lead couldn’t be held against a solid playing Cory Brathol.  At the turn, Cory had a two (2) shot lead over Chris and three (3) over Larry.   Cory continued his steady play on the back nine and carded the tournament low score of 80 including a very impressive four (4) birdies taking first place followed by Chris McArthur in second shooting an equally impressive 85.

 “B” flight proved to be our closest competition of the tournament.  At the turn both Brad and Doug were tied with Jarrod only two (2) shots behind.  Even though the back nine was considered harder than the front, both Doug and Jarrod bettered their front nine score by two (2) strokes.  This brought Jarrod into second place and gave Doug his second win in consecutive tournaments in the “B” flight.  

 “C” flight welcomed back retuning players Tim Palya, Dan Bentzlin and Victor Lucio.  They started out as the closest competition with Victor and Dan tied at the turn and Tim only one shot behind.  As they played the tougher back nine, it became apparent that, yes, this used to be Victor’s home course as burned up the back nine shooting an incredible 42, which was the third lowest back nine score for all flights.  That score was too good for Dan or Tim to overcome giving Victor the win with Dan taking second, five (5) shots behind.

A special thank you to Keith Kalny, Steve Peloquin and StoneRidge GC 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 is greatly appreciated! (www.holen1golf.com).

Our next and final event is at Troy Burne, Saturday, September 10th.  Deadline to register is Thursday, September 15th.