Anyone’s title to win in Men’s Champs

Plenty of parity showing throughout the division

By Eric Morken emorken@echopress.com

Match play is one of the great equalizers in golf, and that was proven again throughout the Men’s Championship Division round on Thursday afternoon at the Resorters.

Alexandria’s Noah Boraas shot 11 strokes lower than Kelly Brown during the two rounds of qualifying, but qualifying scores get thrown

Page 6 who will be a junior in high school this fall, is proving himself again against a talented field as he won 2-1 Thursday to advance to the quarterfinals.

Josh Galvin, a recently-graduated high school senior from Maple Grove, hits off of the second tee box on Aug. 5, 2021 in the Men’s Championship Division at the Resorters. Galvin gave top seed Donald Constable everything he had on Thursday before Constable ultimately won a 1-up contest to survive to the quarterfinals.

Left: Alexandria’s Joe Bigger blasts out of the sand on the front nine of his Men’s Championship match Thursday against Ian Meyer. Meyer won that match by a 1-up final to advance to the quarterfinals. Middle: Nick Jarrett eyes his putt on the second hole during his 4-2 win over Ben Strauman in the Men’s Championship Division Thursday at the Resorters. Right: Kelly Brown watches his tee shot on the third hole during his 5-4 win over third-seeded Noah Boraas of Alexandria on Thursday in the Men’s Championship Division. Below: Maple Grove’s Nate Adams, left, gets a little help reading his putt Thursday on the second green. Adams won 1-up against defending champion Austin Vukovits to secure his spot in the quarterfinals.

Mens

From Page 5 out the window as this tournament progresses. Brown was the one who had things working on Thursday as he knocked off the third-seeded Boraas in a 5-4 final. It was part of a day that saw defending champion Austin Vukovits go down, and top-seeded Donald Constable almost fall.

In the end, Constable, Lincoln Johnson, Ian Meyer, Braeden Sladek, Nate Adams, Nick Jarrett, Brown and Jon Sauer are the eight left standing. Here is a close look at how they got to Friday’s quarterfinals.

Constable def.

Galvin, 1-up

If Maple Grove’s Josh Galvin has proven anything over the last two years at the Resorters, it’s that he doesn’t back down from competition.

Gal - vin, who as a senior at Maple Grove this past spring led his team to a Class AAA state title with a team score of 584 over two days, went all the way to the Men’s Championship finals in 2020 before falling to Mississippi State’s Austin Vukovits. He almost took down former pro and current division medalist Donald Constable before Constable rallied for a 1-up win on Thursday.

It was not the typical under-par round for Constable as he shot a 1-over 73. A birdie win at 15, though, evened the match, and his par win at 17 was enough to win after both parred 18.

Galvin held the biggest lead of the match at 2-up when he took three straight holes on 6 (birdie), 7 (par) and 8 (par).

Constable bounced back with a par win on

9 and a birdie win on 10 to pull even. Galvin struck again with a par win on 13 to retake the lead. Galvin showed early that he wasn’t going to go quietly by sticking his approach shot on No. 2 within an inch of the hole for a gimme birdie.

In the end, Constable’s ability to finish when he wasn’t quite at his best won out.

Johnson def.

Heinen, 3-1

Two longtime Resorters contestants went head-to-head on Thursday, and it was Chaska’s Lincoln Johnson coming away with a 3-1 win over Alec Heinen.

Johnson, a player at the University of Minnesota, has a Junior 10-12 Division title to his name at this tournament, and a runner-up from the Men’s Division in 2016. He’s trying to make another run this week as the 24th seed.

He shot 2-under through his first nine holes to build a 3-up advantage. Heinen got par wins at 12 and 15, but Johnson steadied himself around that with a par win at 13 and a birdie win at 17 to put the match away.

Meyer def. Bigger, 1-up

Ian Meyer had to hold off Alexandria’s Joe Bigger on Thursday, but he did just enough to come away with a 1-up win in a match that was never separated by more than two holes.

Meyer’s biggest stretch came right away on the back nine. It was all square at the turn, but birdies on 11 and 12 gave him a 2-up advantage. That proved to be the difference.

Bigger got it back to as close as one with a par win on 13 and another on 15. But Meyer’s birdie win on 14 was enough after both players went par, par, bogey over the final three holes.

Sladek def. Holm, 2-1

Alexandria’s Braeden Sladek got off to a torrid start against Mitch Holm.

He grabbed a three-hole cushion with two birdies on the first three holes, but Holm erased that by taking four unanswered with a par on 4, and holes 6, 10 and 11 with birdies.

Sladek is still relatively young by this division’s standards as a junior in high school, but he has played in big tournaments all over the country. He brushed aside Holm’s run and got a par win at 13 that evened the match. His par at 16 moved him to 1-up, and his birdie at 17 took the hole and the match as he secured his spot in the quarterfinals.

Adams def. Vukovits, 1-up

It takes some chutzpah to knock off a defending Resorters champion but Nate Adams, the Men’s Division 2018 runner-up, had it against Austin Vukovits Thursday.

Those following the match were rewarded with good golf, momentum shifts, four ties, an eagle and even-par rounds from both golfers.

Adams announced his presence with a birdie on the first hole to take the first lead. They both shot nothing but pars on the next five holes before Vukovits took Nos. 7 and 8 with pars to steal the lead. Adams, however, charged back with a par win on 9 to draw even.

Adams regained the lead with a birdie on No. 11 but Vukovits deadlocked the match with flare, striking for an eagle on the par-5 12th hole. Unruffled, Adams birdied the next hole to once again go out front.

After swapping pars on Nos. 14 and 15, Vukovits birdied 16 to draw even. Both golfers had chances on the par-3 17th but had to settle for bogeys, which sent the match to the final regulation hole. Adams’ birdie took the hole and the match, 1-up.

Jarrett def.

Strauman, 4-2

Nick Jarrett grabbed the early lead with a par on No. 2 but Ben Strauman erased it with a birdie on No. 4. Jarrett came right back with a par on No. 5 to go out front again but Strauman’s par on No. 8 once again evened the score. Jarrett made a crucial birdie on No. 9 to go 1-up at the turn.

After both golfers sunk birdies on No. 10, Jarrett connected with another birdie on the 11th hole to go 2-up. They halved the par-5 12th hole with birdies. From there, the round bounced around a bit but Jarrett came out on top, 4-2.

Brown def. Boraas, 5-4

Kelly Brown slowly built a lead on the front nine, winning four holes – Nos. 1, 3, 6 and 9 –highlighted by pars and one birdie. Noah

Boraas, meanwhile, won just one hole on the front, a par win on No. 5, and trailed by three at the turn.

Brown continued his solid play on the back nine, winning Nos. 10 and 11 with pars to go 5-up. Both golfers matched birdies on the 12th hole and Boraas was only able to match Brown’s pars on No. 13 and 14, which gave Brown a 5-4 victory.

Sauer def. Wilson, 1-up

In a grueling backand-forth dogfight, Jon Sauer came out on top against Jacques Wilson –barely.

Both golfers won three holes on the front: Wilson on No. 1 (birdie), No. 4 (par) and No. 7 (par) while Sauer’s wins came on Nos. 2, 6 and 8, with pars.

Deadlocked at the turn, Sauer took his first lead in the match with a par on No. 10 only to watch it disappear when Wilson won 11 with a birdie. Sauer roared back with a birdie win on No. 12 and a par win on No. 13 to go 2-up.

After they both tied 14 with pars, Wilson made his move, winning No. 15 with birdie and No. 16 with par to draw even. Sauer didn’t buckle, however. He won No. 17 with par and matched Wilson’s birdie on No. 18 to win the match in dramatic fashion, 1-up.