Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2011 - 36

(score card
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Donald Constable the winner at the
108th MGA Amateur Championship
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he point of a state championship
is to identify the best player,
which was precisely what the
108th MGA Amateur Championship did
July 18-20 at White Bear Yacht Club.
Last year's defending champ, Tom Hoge,
who has since turned pro, crowned Donald
Constable, last year's runner up, as the heir
apparent. Constable did not disappoint,
leading the State amateurs pretty much
from start to fi nish. He decisively grabbed
the lead on the back nine during the fi rst
round and never relinquished it on his way
to an opening 66.
In Wednesday's fi nal round, at least three
players made runs-but Constable turned
them all back. After a double bogey at the
eighth hole, he played the fi nal 10 holes in
3-under par to close at 69, which put his
54-hole tally at 206 (7-under par) and gave
him a three-stroke victory.
Adam Riddering, a former Nationwide
Tour regular, eagled the ninth hole to get
within two strokes of Constable. He never
got any closer, mainly because Constable
birdied three of the next four holes. He also
shot a 69 and tied for second place at 209.
The mystery shooter during the fi nal
round was Dillon Schultz, a former state
Class A high school champion who graduated
from Springfi eld/Comfrey last spring.
He played the round of his life and fi nished
with a fl ourish, birdying three of the last
four holes for a 66, which earned him a
share of second.
When it was over, Schultz said it was fun
to be in the hunt for the crown, then added:
" The right guy won. "
" He's the best player. No question, "
said Erik Christopherson, who has won
Minnesota's two biggest match play tournaments
in the last 13 months. " Just watch
him hit shots. Technically, he's in a class by
himself. There's Donald, and then there's
the rest of us. "
The other winner this week was Donald
Ross, who designed White Bear Yacht Club
a century ago. It was a great course then,
and it remains a great course now, despite
the assault of technology on the integrity
of the game.
WBYC was vulnerable-it surrendered
two 66s, two 67s and a bunch of 68s and
69s. That's what should happen when the
best amateurs in the state play well. But the
course was no pushover, not even for the
guys who were hitting short irons into the
par 5s. It held its own, despite measuring a
modest 6,467 yards from the tips.
Sammy Schmitz, a reinstated amateur,
earned his second top-5 fi nish at the State
Am in three years with a 212, thanks to his
second 71 in a row.
A four-way tie for sixth at even-par
213 included yet another reinstated amateur,
David Christensen, who is also a
former State Am champ, having won the
title in 1997. He tied State Publinx champ
David Smith (68-77-68), Chanhassen High
School senior-to-be Jon Dutoit and another
former state high school champ, Robert
Bell, who will be a junior at the University
of Minnesota this fall.
The last time the State Am was played
at WBYC, in 1984, the course was a par
72. The winner, Dave Tentis, was the only
player under par, with a 212. That would
have been fi fth this year.
The most striking measure of how much
things have changed since the mid-80s is
the power that has come into the game. In
1984, Tentis was just about the only player
in the fi eld who was even capable of reaching
the green at the 552-yard, par-5 fourth
hole. On Wednesday, Bell hit a 3-iron from
the tee-and then knocked a 3-wood second
shot onto the green!
Constable can also hit a golf ball prodigious
distances. But it was his toughness,
as much as his talent, that earned him the
FINAL RESULTS
108th MGA Amateur
Championship
1 Donald Constable
Spring Hill GC
66, 71, 69-206
T2 Dillon Schultz
Springfi eld CC
71, 72, 66-209
T2 Adam Riddering
White Bear Yacht Club
69, 71, 69-209
4 Sam Matthew
Midland Hills CC
69, 75, 67-211
5 Sammy Schmitz
Northfi eld GC
70, 71, 71-212
T6 David Smith
Rush Creek GC
68, 77, 68-213
T6 Jon Dutoit
Chaska Town Course
72, 69, 72-213
T6 David Christensen
Elk River GC
74, 67, 72-213
T6 Robert Bell
Les Bolstad GC
70, 70, 73-213
10 Jesse Larson
Le Sueur CC
74, 71, 69-214
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Donald Constable
34
MINNESOTAGOLFER Fall 2011
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Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2011

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