We had our first newly formatted Member/Guest Day on Friday July 13th. We had 18 members and 14 guests at the event for a total of 16 teams and 4 well positioned even pods.
The morning started out a little ominous with some rain, but that cleared up and out around 11:30 for the pre-activities before teeing off at 1pm. The pods were figured out, the matches and scorecards prepared and it was time for the competition to begin and it got heated along with the temperature and humidity. The first set of matches set the tone for the day with 6 of the 8 coming in only 1 point apart and the other two 2 points apart. Some of the pods began to have separation develop within the teams in the middle set of matches with the Jordan/Krasen, Jocelyn/Hyjsulien, Nelson/Ralles taking the lead in their pod’s while the remaining POD was close between Brytenson/Ellis & Shellenbaum/Prock.
As we moved into the final set of matches, the Jordan/Krasen team kept their foot on the gas and maintained complete control of their pod and won running away with a total of 12.5 points winning by 3.5 points.
The Jocelyn/Hyjsulien team ran into some struggles in the final match and opened the door for the Hahka/Paquette team to wrangle a come from behind (in a separate match), with a 1 point victory for their pod.
Nelson/Ralles were playing their closest team, Mangold/Peterson, in the final match, but the Mangold/Peterson team couldn’t squeak the known 4.5/1.5 needed to win and the Nelson/Ralles took down that pod by 2.5 points.
In the final pod, Brynteson/Ellis dominated their final match 4.5/1.5 and took their pod down by 3 points.
There were also some great individual performances from our guests with Ben Tharp (Hendrikson) shooting a 71, while the low round of the day went to Adam Almich (May) who fired off a smooth 69, aided by playing holes 16-3 in an amazing 5 UNDER PAR!
The alternate shot shootout started on #1 and the gallery was following along. 2 teams hit the GIR and went easily through. One team was able to get up and down without issue and the Brynteson/Ellis lipped out a tying putt and were eliminated on the first hole taking $40 each for their effort.
On the second hole, Ralles and Hahka hit drives down the right rough, but Krasen yanked his drive down General Mills Parkway. Jordan followed up well with a great drive down the middle, but lying 3. Then things got a little interesting…Paquette hit down the right into the trees behind 18 tee, while Nelson hit left into the bushes and needed to take an unplayable lie…Krasen redeemed himself hitting the approach to 12 feet for par. Hahka was able to chip down, Paquette’s approach was pin high, but in the rough right, lying 4. Ralles went a little left off green, also lying 4. The pressure again showed on the chips with double hit by hahka to 15 feet while Nelson chipped 15 feet long. In the end, the Nelson/Ralles team advanced with Jordan/Krasen to the final hole. Hahka/Paquette each took home $65 for their effort.
The 3rd hole saw a drive down the right rough by Krasen and to 16 fairway by Ralles. Jordan hit a good approach leaving 60 yards while Nelson was down the right below the hill leaving Ralles with a difficult approach which he absolutely hit perfectly over the trees to 20 feet for birdie. Krasen hit the pitch to 12 feet and after 2 putt pars by both….we went onto an extra hole and the 4th. Krason hit a well distanced shot, but just, just into the right bunker while Ralles hit on the green to 35 feet. The bunker shot for Jordan was tricky and proved to be difficult and hung up in the rough…Krasen nearly chipped in for par, but after a great 2 putt par by Nelson/Ralles they walked away victorious! Jordan/Krasen took $85 each for the 2nd place while the Nelson/Ralles team took home $110 each as the winners!
Congratulations to everyone for helping the BMGA have a great event.
Hole Prizes were worth $20 each and had the following winners:
Hole #2 Long Drive – Devin Duffy (Schultz guest)
Hole #4 CTP – Michael White (BMGA)
Hole #6 Closest in 2 – Forrest Nelson (BMGA)
Hole #8 CTP – Steve Shellenbaum (BMGA)
Hole #12 CTP – Steve Shellenbaum (BMGA)
Hole #13 Long Putt – Ben Tharp (Hendrikson Guest)
Hole #17 CTP – Nick Schultz (BMGA)
Hole #18 Closest in 2 – Richard Brynteson (BMGA)
