Don and Nancy Saucke serve as honorary chairmen

Dave Kluver and Tom Eidsvold serve

As Honorary Starters

By Sam Stuve

Alexandria Echo Press

ALEXANDRIA - The annual Resorters Golf Tournament at the Alexandria Golf Club is a staple in the Alexandria community.

This year’s tournament runs from July 30-Aug. 5, 2023, and is the 102nd edition of the tournament.

Tom Eidsvold and Dave Kluver have been named the honorary starters for the tournament, while Don and Nancy Saucke are the honorary co-chairmen.

These four were recognized in a ceremony on Tuesday, Aug. 1, 2023, at 11:30 a.m. at the first hole at the Alexandria Golf Club.

Tom Eidsvold and Dave Kluver

Tom Eidsvold, 82, and Dave Kluver, 68, are two names that are etched in the Resorters Tournament history books and now are both honorary starters for this year’s tournament.

“It’s a big honor,” Kluver said. “ I remember when I was playing in it, we had a guy by the name of “The Colonel” Noel Lucas who was kind of honorary guy that emceed the shootout we had.”

“It’s a wonderful thing to be able to represent this golf course,” Eidsvold said.

Kluver, who lives in Arizona but comes up to Alexandria for the summer, and his sister Lisa Grimes, who is the Director of Instruction at the Alexandria Golf Club and who was a standout golfer in college at Arizona State and professional on the Future’s Tour, LPGA Tour and on the LPGA Legends Tour, grew up in the area and have been staples in the Alexandria community.

“I keep coming back because it’s a great tournament,” Kluver said. “It’s well run; it’s got good players. It’s got a great atmosphere. That’s the main thing that keeps draw- ing people back; it’s the camaraderie of it; you meet a lot of friends.”

Kluver moved from Omaha, Nebraska, with his family to Alexandria when he was five years old and got involved in golf by caddying for his dad.

He then started working with the Resorters Tournament at 11 or 12 years old, along with playing junior golf in the area with the likes of Tom Lehman and more.

“I started at the tournament with raking the bunkers, and I was the flag boy up at hole No. 4,” Kluver said. “I kept eyes on drives and waved people up when they were ready. That was a good $5 day job with a hot dog. That was good money back then; I was so fired up to get $5 at the end of the day.”

Later on, Kluver began caddying at the tournament and learned from the golfers who played at the tournament.

Kluver won the Men’s Resorters title in 1978 and in 1982.

Kluver played professionally on PGA tours in Europe, Asia, South America, and South Africa, along with playing in other tournaments in the United States in the Caribbean. His professional accolades include winning the Buick Scramble in 2003 and playing in the 2007 British Senior Open Championship, where he tied for 124th.

He’s been a member of the Professional Golfers Association of America since 1993 and has trained mainly talented golfers in Arizona.

He ran the golf school at Apache Stronghold Golf Club in San Carlos, Arizona, and worked with the FUNdamental golf program with the Southwest Section of the PGA.

Throughout the years, Kluver has made it a point of emphasis to come back to Alexandria to watch the Resorters Tournament and last year, he shot a 77 in the Pro-Am.

Eidsvold started playing golf at the age of nine in 1949 and, since the mid-1960s, has played in the majority of the Resorters Tournaments.

“I’ve played in quite a few of them since 1965, but not all of them,” Eidsvold said.

He’s a four-time Resorters champion. He won the Men’s Master’s title in 2012 and 2013 and more recently won the Grand Master’s title in 2019 and 2020.

The Resorters Tournament has continually drawn not only great golfers from the state of Minnesota but great golfers nationwide.

Eidsvold, who grew up in the Morris area and moved to Alexandria in 1987, has seen the growth in numbers and interest at the tournament over the years.

“This tournament is one of the best around the whole country,” Eidsvold said. “It all started out way back when, when people came from down south following country Alexandria in the summertime with no air conditioning, and this tournament has helped put Alex on the map. I think my favorite part is seeing all my old friends come back every year. ”

Don and Nancy Saucke

Don and Nancy Saucke have been great volunteers at the Resorters Tournament in recent years by setting up food and refreshment tents on the course.

The Alexandria Golf Club is thankful for the volunteering and their efforts in providing food and drink tents on the course during the tournament.

And this year, they are being bestowed with being the co-chairmen at his year’s Resorters Tournament.

“We were shocked and surprised but thankful,” Don and Nancy said about when they heard they were being honored.

The Saucke’s moved to Alexandria in 2011 from Granite Falls and have been volunteering at the tournament for about the last decade.

The volunteer effort has seen similar growth to that of the tournament itself.

The jobs of the staff of volunteers, along with the staff at the course are long since some days tee times start at 6:40 a.m. in the morning, and play of the tournament runs well throughout the evening.

“We don’t give them eight-hour shifts,” Don said. “We work them four hours shifts, and there are three shifts a day. The early shift usually is just one person in the tent because it’s just breakfast sandwiches now. The hamburgers and hot dogs and all that started 10 o’clock, and then there are two shifts 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. and then 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. or whenever they close up.”

Along with the growth of volunteers has been an increase in options at the tents.

“It’s been expanding,” Nancy said about the growth of food and beverage options at the tents. “When we first started, it was just beverages and maybe cold sandwiches too. There was no grilling out there or anything like that at the time. Now we have a full bar out there too.”

The Saucke’s are no longer in charge of running the food and refreshment tents at the tournament, but they still get out there and work when they can and enjoy the tournament.

Don and Nancy Saucke, who have been members at the club since just before moving to Alexandria, have been standouts on the course at the Resorters Tournament. Nancy won the Women’s Executive title (2002) and played sporadically in the tournament from 1975 through 2004.

Don, who grew up in south central Minnesota in the small town of Wells near the Iowa-Minnesota border, started playing in the tournament in the early 1970s.

“It’s the second longest running match play tournament in the nation, and there’s so much history here,” Nancy said. “That’s great history, and that says it all in itself.”

Email sports lead Sam Stuve at sstuve@echopress.com