Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2019 - 26

MGA NEWS
MGA Annual Meeting October 28
Lakeville's Brackett's Crossing Country
Club will host the MGA's Annual Meeting
and Awards banquet Monday, Oct. 28.
Social hour starts at 5:30 p.m., followed
by presentations recognizing the six MGA
Players of the Year, the Evans Scholar of
the Year, the MGA Warren J. Rebholz and
Giles Kobilka Service Awards, and the
MGA Member Club of the Year.
Three inductees into the Minnesota
Golf Hall of Fame will also be honored:
Mike Barge, Hilary Lunke and Bob Olds.
Though he was born in Trimont,
Minn., Barge graduated from Fargo
South High School in 1972, the same
year he won the North Dakota Junior
Amateur and the State High School
championships. He has spent much of
his career as the director of golf instruction
at Hazeltine National Golf Club, and
was recognized by the Minnesota Section
of the PGA as its Teacher of the Year two
times. Barge has won a Section Stroke
Play and two Match Play championships,
four Senior Stroke Play championships,
the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am, and the
Minnesota State Open and Senior Open.
He has qualified for 25 PGA Professional
and Senior Professional championships,
including three USGA Senior Opens
and two PGA Senior championships. In
her with the William and Mousie Powell
Award for best representing the spirit,
ideals and values of the LPGA.
Olds, who was the longtime head golf
professional at the Minnetonka Country
Club,
MIKE BARGE HILARY LUNKE BOB OLDS
2012, Barge was inducted into the North
Dakota Golf Hall of Fame.
Lunke was a standout junior player,
winning the Minnesota State Junior Girls'
Championship in 1996 and the Class AA
Girls' medalist title while helping Edina
win the high school team title in 1997. She
attended Stanford University and played
on the women's golf team where she won
two collegiate tournaments and was a
four-time All-American. Lunke won the
2001 South Atlantic Amateur and earned
a spot on the USGA's Curtis Cup and
World Amateur teams. She joined the
LPGA Tour in 2002 and a year later won
her only professional title, the 2003 U.S.
Women's Open at Pumpkin Ridge, in a
dramatic 18-hole playoff. Lunke was the
first Open champion to advance through
Local and Sectional qualifying, joining
two other Minnesotans as National Open
Champions: Patty Berg and Jerilyn Britz.
In 2008, Lunke's LPGA peers recognized
Better to Be Lucky Than Good?
When told that they're lucky, accomplished athletes often say " the
harder I work, the luckier I get. " That adage should also apply
to hitting a hole in one-luck and skill are generally involved. No
one knows that better than Bob Olson, who beat 67 million-to-one
odds on August 17 when he made two aces in one round at Oak
Marsh Golf Course in Oakdale.
" I'm still kind of [awestruck], " Olson said three days later. " After
I made the first one, I didn't think the day could get any better ...
I was wrong. "
Olson, playing with his son Geno and two fellow men's league
members, scored the first ace (the second of his career) on the
155-yard No. 6 with a 52-degree wedge.
" It landed about a foot short and right, took about a threefoot
hop forward and spun back into the cup, " Olson said. " We
all jumped up and started fist-bumping. League members in the
group ahead of us also started cheering. Got my heart pumping. "
On the 191-yard No. 13, Olson faced a left hole location tucked
behind water and sand, and drew a 5-iron around the obstacles
toward the flag. " I said, 'this could be number two.' "
Olson was so filled with adrenaline that on the next par 3 he
hit to 20 feet and three-putted, which finally calmed him down.
But birdies on No. 16 and No. 17 led to a 68-his best round ever.
Given such a score (and a 5.2 index), Olson's skill in the game
is assured, but he wasn't betting on ability alone. After paying a
$170 bar bill in the clubhouse, he bought a handful of lottery tickets
on the way home. A little luck never hurts.
enjoyed a competitive playing
career and an even more accomplished
vocational career during his tenure at
the club (1970-2008). He won several
pro-ams, including the 1987 Tapemark,
a major, and qualified for the National
PGA Club Pro Championship four times.
He was also influential at the state and
sectional level, serving on the Minnesota
PGA Section Board of Directors from
1975-1984, which culminated in his serving
as President (1981-1982). In 1982,
he was named the Minnesota Section
PGA Golf Professional of the Year. A
friend to all and a mentor to many, Olds
was instrumental in establishing the
Minnesota PGA Junior Golf Academy,
in forming the annual MGA-PGA Cup
Matches in 1977, and as the moving
force in the creation of the Minnesota
Women's Open Championship, which
MCC hosted from 1985-1987.
As an MGA member, you are welcome
to attend. For more details, contact Anne
Colehour at 952-345-3969.
26
MINNESOTAGOLFER Fall 2019
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Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2019

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