Minnesota Golfer - Spring 2018 - 26

MINNESOT A
JOHN HARRIS 1994 (T50)
In 1994, for the fi rst time, two Minnesotans made the cut at the Masters-Tom Lehman and John
Harris. Harris had won the U.S. Amateur in 1993 after playing a starring role in the U.S. team's
Walker Cup victory at Interlachen a couple of weeks earlier. He has the distinction of being the
only one of the four Minnesota amateurs who played at the Masters to have made the cut. He did
it on the number, with a 146, and went on to tie for 50th.
TIM HERRON
Tim Herron, who had also played a starring role
(along with Harris) in the 1993 Walker Cup victory at
Interlachen, played in the Masters six times. He missed the cut on his fi rst two tries (1996
and 1998) but then got the hang of it. In 1999 he tied for 44th, and then, after a fi ve-year
absence, he was back in 2005 and tied for 11th, his best fi nish-and the best ever by any
Minnesotan other than Lehman. Herron made his last appearance in 2007, tying for 37th.
1996 (CUT)
1998 (CUT)
1999 (T44)
2005 (T11)
2006 (T36)
2007 (T37)
TROY MERRITT 2016 (T42)
After Herron's appearance in 2007, there was a nine-year gap for the old
Gopher State, but in 2016 two Minnesotans made it to the Masters. Troy Merritt took a circuitous
route to Augusta: Born in Iowa, he grew up in Idaho, then came to Minnesota as a
ninth-grader, where he was a two-sport star (basketball and golf) at Spring Lake Park High
School. He played two years of Division II college golf at Winona State, then returned to
Idaho to play two years of Division I golf at Boise State, where he won fi ve tournaments in
the regular season as a senior-and had the lowest scoring average in the country (69.2).
He turned pro in 2008, won a Nationwide (now Web.com) Tour event in 2009, and went
wire-to-wire in winning medalist honors at the 108-hole PGA Tour Q-School in the fall of
2009. But he didn't claim his fi rst PGA Tour title until 2015. That got him into the Masters,
and he made the cut, eventually tying for 42nd.
SAMMY SCHMITZ
2016 (CUT)
The other Minnesotan at the 2016 Masters
was four-time MGA Player of the Year
Sammy Schmitz, who was there by virtue of
his victory in the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur.
One of the highlights of his week at
Augusta was playing a practice round with
Ricky Fowler. " He's little, " Schmitz noted,
" but he hits it so far you can't believe it. He
was hitting it 30 yards past me. "
As
for the tournament itself, Schmitz
played very well-except for a seven-hole
stretch on the back nine the fi rst day. He
was 9-over par in that stretch and shot 81,
then came back with a 75 on the second
day, missing the cut by six shots.
" The margin for error is just so small, " he
said afterward. " I thought I hit a good shot
on No. 10, but I mis-clubbed and fl ew the
green. That was a double. Then you start
to second-guess yourself, because you're
not sure about the wind or the club you're
hitting, and your score just snowballs. It's
such a hard course. If you hit a shot 10 or
15 feet from where you aim it on the green,
you might not be able to two-putt. It was
an amazing experience, and it gave me an
even greater appreciation for just how good
those Tour players really are. "
MINNESOTANS
at the
1970 Howie Johnson
1971 Howie Johnson
Dave Tentis
T18
T46
1978 Gary Jacobson cut
1984 Chris Perry
1993 Tom Lehman T3
1994 Tom Lehman 2
John Harris
cut
cut
T50
1995 Tom Lehman 40
1996 Tom Lehman T18
Tim Herron
cut
1997 Tom Lehman T12
1998 Tom Lehman cut
Tim Herron
cut
1999 Tom Lehman T31
Tim Herron
Chris Perry
2000 Tom Lehman 6
Chris Perry
T44
T50
T14
T37
2001 Tom Lehman T18
Chris Perry
2002 Tom Lehman cut
2003 Tom Lehman cut
2005 Tom Lehman T13
Tim Herron
2006 Tom Lehman cut
Tim Herron
2007 Tim Herron
2016 Troy Merritt
Sammy Schmitz
T37
T42
cut
T11
T36
26
MINNESOTAGOLFER Spring 2018
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