Constable hits the ground running Former champ and 7-year pro returns to Resorters at a different place in life

By Eric Morken Alexandria Echo Press

Minnetonka’s Donald Constable has fond memories of his run to the Men’s Division championship at the Resorters Tournament in 2010 during the middle of his college career.

That was a much different time in Constable’s life. Today, he and his wife, Melissa, have a 16-month old son with them in Alexandria. Their son is the fifth Donald in the Constable family.

“Maybe one day he’ll be playing in this thing,” Constable said on Tuesday.

Young Donald’s dad looks like he’s on pace to have another memorable run this week.

Constable was the low qualifier out of the 79 players in the Men’s Championship field. He followed up a 67 on Sunday with a 66 on Tuesday for an 11-under par 133 that left him one shot better than Alexandria native and current South Dakota State University golfer Noah Boraas.

“I didn’t hit the tee ball great (Sunday) on the front nine, but hit it a lot better on the back,” Constable said. “I drove it well, and it’s just a course I love. It’s a fun track. You hit the tee ball well, you’re going to have a lot of wedges and short irons in, so just hammer a bunch of greens, give yourself a lot of looks and hopefully fill it up with the putter.”

Constable played collegiately at both the University of Texas and the University of Minnesota before a 7-year run as a professional. He turned pro in the fall of 2012 and spent a year on the PGA Tour in 2013 before bouncing around on some of the mini tours. He was back on the PGA’s Web.com Tour in 2018, and regained his amateur status in May of this year.

“I was all over the place,” Constable said. “Played for seven years and got to a point where I wasn’t enjoying the lifestyle of it anymore and being on the road 30 weeks a year. Missing anniversaries and birthdays and all that stuff that comes with it.

“I moved every six months for seven years, and the first month I was home after stopping from playing full time, it was the first year I was home for my wife’s birthday in four years. First anniversary in four years. You miss a lot, and it’s something people don’t really see. You just see the guys on TV playing and think it’s the greatest job. It was a true blessing to do it as a living, but it’s a grind. It’s a hard lifestyle.”

Constable has taken a considerable step back in terms of the time he spends on a golf course. He was playing once or twice every couple of weeks this summer before practicing a little more leading up to Resorters week.

Constable has played said. “I have so many good memories here of playing well and throwing some low numbers up. It’s a course where if you drive it well you’re going to have so many chances. I’m a very good driver of the golf ball, so if I drive it well I like my chances.” youngster in this field along for the ride. The soon-to-be junior at South Dakota State University looks like one of the top contenders.

Eric Morken / Alexandria Echo Press Minnetonka’s Donald Constable watches his tee shot off of the No. 1 box during his second qualifying round on Aug. 3, 2021 in the Resorters Men’s Championship Division. Constable shot an 11-under par 133 through his two rounds to go into the match-play portion of the tournament as the top seed.

Constable knows it won’t come easy. Fifteen different players finished qualifying under par, and that doesn’t include defending champion Austin Vukovits from Mississippi State University. Vukovits took Sunday off and played a practice round during qualifying on Tuesday knowing that he had the division’s second seed locked up.

“I’m not going to start talking about Saturday before Wednesday rolls around,” Boraas said of a potential run in match play. “But if I keep having a few days like the past couple rounds and a few good breaks, a few good putts roll in, I wouldn’t rule it out.” on Tuesday. He knows it will take a good round from anyone to beat the former champion.

“No bad mistakes. Solid tee to green. He’s a great player,” Boraas said of Constable. “It looked effortless today, so we gotta take it day by day and see what happens.” the Alexandria Golf Club casually in recent years, but it had been about a decade since he spent the whole week at the Resorters. He didn’t skip a beat in his return to the championship field as he carded just one bogey through his two rounds.

Constable eagled the par-5 12th hole on Tuesday around birdies on Nos. 5, 7, 11 and 16. His Sunday round included birdies on holes 1, 6, 7, 10, 12 and 15.

“It’s just such a fun golf course,” Constable

“There’s a lot of great players who play this thing,” Constable said. “It’s a golf course where you can bomb driver or you can also hit iron everywhere. There’s guys who have a lot of success hitting iron, and you still have a lot of wedges in...There’s a lot of different ways you can play it, so any year you can win it is special. But obviously this year being the 100th year and it being my first year back and having my boy up here, it would be pretty cool.”

Alexandria’s Noah Boraas led Constable by one stroke after shooting a 66 during his first round of qualifying on Sunday.

That lead did not quite hold up, but Boraas proved over the course of shooting 10-under par through 36 holes that he’s no longer a

Boraas shot a 4-under par 68 on Tuesday with birdies on Nos. 1, 2, 10, 12, 13 and 14. His only blemish on Sunday came with a double bogey on the par-4 fourth hole. He shot 6-under par on holes 5 through 18, while also birdying Nos. 1 and 2.

“My short game was really hot the last couple days,” Boraas said. “Made a lot of 10-15 foot putts for birdie that normally you don’t make all of them. That saved me quite a bit. It felt more lucky than skill, but it’s fun to have a couple days like that too.”

Boraas said everything resets when match play starts on Wednesday afternoon. He will open up against Lukas Justesen, who qualified as the 30th seed with a 3-over par 147 (74, 73). Alex Woodhull was the final entry into the championship flight as he won a playoff with Jeremy Decko and Logan Hamak after all three shot 148s.

Boraas feels good about his game and the steady improvements he has seen this summer. It showed during qualifying, but he got a chance to play with Constable

There’s a lot of matches to play, but a deep run and a potential championship for the Alexandria native who grew up around this tournament would make for quite a week.

“If I had to choose one word it would be ‘special,’ Boraas said of the prospect of winning the Men’s championship. “I don’t think it matters if it’s the 100th, 102nd, 103rd (Resorters). It’s a great tournament every year. A lot of good players, great competition. I’ve got a lot of work to do, but it would be special.” vs. Lukas Justesen; Davis Johnson vs. Kelly Brown

2:30 - Jon Sauer vs. Tristan Nelko; Jerry Rose vs. Jacques Wilson emorken@echopress.com

A young golfer in the crowd raised his hand during the clinic and asked Lehman how often he played golf as a kid. His answer – all the time. Lehman’s childhood consisted of breakfast in the morning before hitchhiking to the course. It was golf in the morning, afternoon and again after supper almost every day in the summer.

That was another part of the message Lehman wanted to get across to the young players in attendance. Determination, commitment and confidence can overcome anything, he said.

“You have to love the game,” Lehman said of competing at a high level. “If you don’t love it, you’re never going to be able to work hard enough to beat the guys who do love it. The foundation of anything is you have to love what you do and then you have to work really hard. But you can’t work really hard if you don’t love it.”

Analyzing their own game

Lehman and Gogel both followed up the clinic by playing in the Resorters ProAm on Saturday afternoon.

Gogel tied Brady Swedberg, Casey Vangsness, Don Berry and Jack Himenez among the pros who shot even par 72s. Lehman and Thomas Campbell tied for the win among pros after shooting 2-under par 70s.

Gogel is working to get back into competitive golf again as he looks to become a fixture on the PGA’s Senior Tour. He just turned 50 in February, the minimum age requirement to compete on the Champions Tour.

Gogel became a golf commentator after his career on the PGA Tour. He has played in eight Champions Tour tournaments in 2021, with his best finish coming in late July when he tied for 18th at the Senior British Open.

“The thing that has come back the slowest is competitive play,” Gogel said. “I was really out of the game competitively for 14 years, so I’m just now turning the corner. British Senior was a good start. I’ve had some good moments, and I’m enjoying the heck out of it. I just haven’t put together good scores where I feel like now I know I’m on the right track to competing.

“I want to win out there. Everybody does. That’s what keeps that tour alive is there’s a new crop of 50-year olds coming up all the time, but these guys can play. Tom Lehman is 62. He can absolutely compete out there and win. You know you have a window between 50-60 and maybe a couple years after that. I’m looking forward to the next several years being very competitive out there.”

Lehman feels like his game is on the upswing after struggling through much of this season. He has played in 22 events on the Champions Tour and has three top-10 finishes. He tied for 11th with rounds of 68, 71, 68 and 70 (277) at the Senior British Open.

“It’s been a difficult year,” Lehman said. “I haven’t played well, but I kind of have stumbled upon doing what I have normally done. For whatever the reason, I’m just starting to feel like I’m swinging my more natural swing. It’s starting to click a little bit.”

Lehman feels a lot of those struggles stem from simply not always feeling great physically at this point in his career. He has dealt with more lower body pain in his knees and feet.

“You don’t feel like you do when you’re 30. I’ve found that my knees are sore, my feet hurt more and if my legs don’t work right, my swing doesn’t work right,” Lehman said. “I’ve always been a really strong lower body supported player. So if my lower body hurts or is aching or lacking in flexibility, my swing suffers. More than anything, that’s it.”

Lehman still has the same enjoyment for golf that he had as a young kid spending all day at the Alexandria Golf Club, but the lifestyle required as a professional wears on him at times now.

“I love to compete and I love to prepare,” he said. “I don’t love traveling like I used to. I think the thing that will drive me to retire is going to be I’m sick and tired of traveling. It’s nice to be here rather than England. Being at home with your family and friends, it just feels better.”

Lehman and his family spend a lot of their summer at their home on Lake Darling. There is no place he would rather be this week as he helps celebrate a special Resorters.

RESORTERS PRO-AM SCORES

TOP-10 PRO SCORES - Tom Lehman - 70; Thomas Campbell - 70; Aaron Jacobson - 71; Brady Swedberg - 72; Casey Vangsness - 72; Don Berry - 72; Jack Himenez - 72;