Part 2: The legends

Editors note: This is the second of a four-part series about the history behind the 100th Resorters Golf Tournament. It’s written by Ron Way, a former reporter for the Minneapolis Tribune, and writes occasional opinion columns for the, now, StarTribune. Special thanks to the Douglas County Historical Society for this series.

The entry sign at the Alexandria Golf Club announces AGC as Home of the Resorters, and also home to Minnesota’s best golfer ever, Tom Lehman, and to Lisa Grimes, Alexandria’s best from a locally-famous golfing family.

Grimes won the Resorters in 1978 and ‘82. After an accomplished LPGA career she’s become a top golf teacher at AGC in summer and Arizona.

Lehman won the Resorters in 1980, and since turning pro has returned with wife Melissa to his lake home on Little Darling for August vacations and caddie for his sons – and to traverse familiar turf in his Ryder Cup cart (he was captain in 2006).

AGC has another PGA player as member: Matt Gogel of Mission Hills, Kansas, won the 2002 AT&T at Pebble Beach.

Gogel vacations in the area with wife, Blair (Lauritzen), and their son Thomas (a top Kansas amateur); Matt caddies for Thomas at The Resorters.

Lehman and Gogel played in AGC’s proam on Saturday, July 31, while Grimes played in the U.S. Senior Open in Connecticut.

Grimes eagerly promotes junior golf in the mold of former head pro, John Basten, who mentored a legion of youngsters and made Alex a powerhouse: the Lehmans, Kluvers, Herzogs, Eltons, and Swedbergs, along with Rick Gorham, the first Alexandrian to win the men’s championship, in 1976. Another local, Rick Frieburg, caddied at AGC before winning in 1988, ’91, and ‘97.

AGC’s current head pro, Kyle Lee, was an AHS standout who in 2007 competed against his friend and eventual Resorters’ winner Bryce Hanstad, who that same year won the Minnesota Amateur at

Hazeltine. Lee married Ashley Kober, a Seattle nurse, and together the delightful pair run AGC’s pro shop and golf events.

Alex golf teams are regular high school contenders, and the girls’ 2021 team won the state championship while the boys took fifth.

The Resorters’ features qualifying rounds to seed into match-play eliminations, a format used by two other week-long tourneys inspired by The Resorters’ early success: “The Birchmont” in Bemidji (1926) and “Pine to Palm” in Detroit Lakes (1931). They run consecutive weeks as The Resort Circuit.

Edith Kierland, the first Alexandrian to win a championship, took eight trophies between 1932 and 1949. Her golf memorabilia is displayed at Westin Kierland, a Scottsdale Arizona resort complex built by her sister’s husband’s family, the Herbergers (their business career started in Douglas County, and they summered on Le Homme Dieu Bay).

The youngest Resorters’ winner in the Men’s or Women’s Division is Alayna Eldred in 2014, then a 14-year-old from Osakis. Alexandria’s Maggie Leland won her first of three titles in 2007, at 15.

Lisa Grimes’ father, the late Arlo Kluver, was legendary at AGC as the smiling swashbuckler who’d hitch up his pants before careening a tee ball most anywhere but the fairway. Like all Kluvers, he relied on uncanny escapes and a deadly short game to out-play the best. Arlo never won the Resorters, but Lisa and son Dave each won twice while a brother, A.J., was a frequent championship contender.

Two other Lehmans, Jim and Mike, have competed, with Jim winning in 2009 over a much younger field – fittingly described as smitten by long drives more than short wedges. Barb Lehman once described her boys’ summers as daily playing 36 holes with the Kluver and Herzog kids before putting contests that’d finish in twilight. On rainy days they’d imagine it was the British Open, a world major that Tom would win in 1996.

Perhaps the best-ever amateur to compete was No. 1 ranked George Boutell of Phoenix. He took Resorters titles in 1962 and ’67, and went on to the PGA Tour. Other future PGA players who played were Joel Goldstrand, Bill Israelson, Jack Rule, Chris Perry, Ed Fiori, and Mike Morley, while Jim Sorenson and John Harris played in the Walker Cup.

Some familiar names: Nancy McGibbon, Joan Garvin, Claudia Pilot, Beth Stone, Jodi Krafka, Hap Rose, Dick Blooston, Ted McFarlane, Bill Zieske, Jerry Gruidl, Brett Swedberg, and Neil Croonquist (he once readied to escape a 9th hole bunker in a close match when his wife yelled she needed the car keys; Croonquist calmly stepped out, fetched the keys from his bag, and went back to blast a par-save).

Jerry Rose, AGC’s current President and Resorters’ Chair, won in 1979, 1983, and 2000.

Rose made the 2019 U.S. Senior Amateur quarterfinals, won the 2021 Minnesota Senior Championship, and is four-time MGA Senior Men’s Player of the Year.

Rose is rightfully credited with making today’s Resorters among the nation’s best-run events, capping the field to overcome the scourge of slow play and otherwise crafting an efficient and lively event.

Top seeds play to potential in Masters

By Eric Morken emorken@echopress.com

The quarterfinals in the Masters Division is set with seven of the top eight seeds left standing. Here is a look at how they all got here before teeing off from the first hole at noon on Thursday.

Empanger def.

LaFave, 8-7

The top seed in the Masters Division put on quite a show in his opening round of match play as Jon Empanger beat Joe LaFave 8-7 on Wednesday morning.

Empanger wasted no time setting the tone as he took the first six holes that was jumpstarted with a birdie win on No. 1. LaFave got his only hole with a par win at No. 7, but Empanger got a birdie win at 8 and par wins at 9 and 11 to secure the match. Empanger shot 1-under par through his 11 holes played.

Sauer def.

Angermeyr, 2-up

Ray Sauer locked up in a back-and-forth match with Jim Angermeyr that eventually went to Sauer in a 2-up final. Sauer had to take it from Angermeyr with a birdie win on 16 and a par win on 18 securing the match. Angermeyr took five holes on the day, while Sauer won seven, including another with birdie on the second hole.

Ryan def. Bongard, 3-2

Last year’s runner-up in the division

Arnold def. Klick, 4-3

Resorters regular Jim Arnold rallied from a 3-hole deficit against Joe Klick to win 4-3. It was all Arnold after that slow start, as he shot 37 on the front to match Klick. Arnold then used par wins at 11, 12, 13 and 15 to wrap up the match. Elton def.

Davidson, 7-5 seed, took three of the first four holes before Tessmer’s birdie win on 6. Johnson followed that right up with a birdie win of his own on 7 and won four of the first five holes on the back nine to put the match away.

Defending champion Dan Elton controlled his match after a rough first two holes.

Rob Davidson won with bogeys on Nos. 1 and 2.

Blanchard def.

Vipond, 4-3

Thomas Vipond rallied a bit on the back nine against Alexandria’s Norty Blanchard, but the damage was already done after Blanchard took a 5-hole lead into the turn.

Empanger Sauer is trying to get another crack at the title after winning a 3-2 match against Mark Bongard.

Ryan started strong with a 3-up lead through four before Bongard rallied to go 1-up in a run that culminated with a birdie win at 9. Ryan bounced back, winning four holes on the back with a birdie on 10 and pars on 12-14.

Anyone who has followed Elton over the years knows double bogeys are not typical on his scorecard. He righted the ship by shooting 2-under the rest of the way. That led to six wins on the front and three more on the back as he put the match away with five holes to spare.

Randy Johnson def. Tessmer, 5-4

Alexandria’s Randy Johnson, the 2018 Masters Division champion, put together a nice opening round as he won 5-4 over Steve Tessmer.

Johnson, the 10th

Blanchard withstood three straight par wins for Vipond on 11-13 and settled in after that. His par win on 14 and birdie win on 15 ended things with three holes to go.

Seashore def.

Ledebuhr, 6-5

Gene Seashore shot a 39 on the front in his match against Roger Ledebuhr, and it led to a 5-hole lead at the turn that Seashore never came close to relinquishing.