Burnham Wins Playoff with Neisen, Claims State Women's Amateur Championship

MENDOTA HEIGHTS -- In the process of becoming a successful tournament golfer, it's almost as if a player has to pass a series of tests.

Can you hold a lead? Can you come from behind? Can you go deep under par and not retreat? Can you deal with adversity? And so on.

Normally, the process is a fairly long one (Tiger Woods still hasn't demonstrated that he can come from behind in a major). But Sarah Burnham seems to have passed most of the tests in the span of a few months, beginning in May, when the then-sophomore from Wayzata won the biggest Minnesota girls high school tournament of the regular season, the Red Wing Invitational, which she led from the first hole to the finish.

A few weeks later, she led the State Junior Girls Championship after one round. Over the first five holes of the second round, she went 6 over par, yet she battled back from that catastrophic start by going 5 under for the last 13 holes -- and nearly overtook the eventual winner, Celia Kuenster. (She came up one stroke short, and finished second to Kuenster for the second year in a row.)

In mid-July, Burnham came from five strokes behind in the final round of the State Publinx Stroke Play by shooting 69 at Pebble Creek. That got her into a playoff for the championship with former MGA Player of the Year Olivia Lansing, and she won it on the first extra hole. 

Burnham passed another test earlier this month when she made her first foray into the mid-60's, and didn't flinch. Playing in Twin Cities Junior Girls Championship at Victory Links, she put together a 7-under-par 64 (6 birdies, 1 eagle, 1 bogey) and won the tournament by 12 strokes.

"The course was only 4,800 yards," she pointed out. But the courses that most girls high school tournaments are played on aren't all that much longer than 5,000 yards. (In any case, Burnham's 64 in the Twin Cities Junior and Lansing's 65 in the Publinx Stroke Play are probably two of the three lowest tournament scores shot in Minnesota by amateurs on courses with a par of 71 or higher. The other was a 65 by Anna Laorr in last year's Twin Cities Junior.)

All of which is another way of saying that in 2012 Burnham has emerged as a player to be reckoned with, and on Thursday she capped off her breakout season by winning the Minnesota Women's State Amateur at Mendakota Country Club.

The victory was every bit as impressive as her year has been, because in order to win she had to survive what might have been the best final-round duel in the history of the tournament -- between Burnham and another high school junior-to-be, New Prague's McKenzie Neisen -- and then win a playoff. 

Neisen set the tone by making an eagle on the first hole, and between them they made four birdies in the next six holes on a fairly difficult course, and on a day when the winds were brisk. Their best-ball score on the front nine would have been 5 under.

Eventually, Neisen, who started the day one behind Burnham, shot a 1-under 71, and Burnham a 72, which meant they finished the regulation 54 holes tied for first at 220, five ahead of the rest of the field. That meant the championship would be decided by a three-hole playoff. 

In the playoff, Neisen had the early advantage. She reached the green at No. 1 (476 yards, par 5) in two, but she three-putted, and the hole was tied with pars.

Burnham won the playoff on the second extra hole, No. 11 (352, par 4), where she hit a nearly perfect shot, a 9-iron shot from a downhill lie to a green that was 15 or 20 feet above her, and made a 10-foot putt for a birdie. Neisen's tee shot ended up about 15 yards from Burnham's, but she had to deal with trees, missed the green and wound up with a bogey.  

Both players parred the last hole of the playoff, No. 3 (528, par 5).

Besides Wednesday's sensational shoot-out between Burnham and Neisen, this year's Women's State Am was also notable for being dominated by high school underclassmen. Celia Kuenster won last year's tournament -- between her freshman and sophomore years at Cretin-Derham Hall -- and set a record for being the youngest champion. However, she was the only high school player in the top five.

This year, there were three high school juniors-to-be in the top four, because Kuenster tied for third, along with Olivia Lansing at 225. Lansing, who graduated from Drake University two years ago -- and won the second of her two consecutive Women's State Am titles that summer -- is barely 24 years old (her birthday was Aug. 4).

That's not all that old by the traditional standards of Minnesota women's golf, but she's seven years older than anyone else who finished in the top four this week.

(Last year, there were five high school players in the top 20 in this tournament. This year, 10 of the top 20 finishers were high school girls.)

The front nine is considered the easier one at Mendakota, but Kuenster played it in 12 over. On the more difficult back nine, she was 3 under. 

"I don't know what it is," she said, "but the front nine and I just don't get along."

She shot 74 on Thursday. Lansing shot 75 to claim her share of third.

Jaclyn Shepherd, who will be a senior at Minnesota in a few weeks, closed with a 73, which put her at 226 and gave her sole possession of fifth place. Two weeks ago, Shepherd won the State Match Play Championship, and she finished second in the State Open last week.  

State Mid-Amateur champ Kristen Wagner was sixth with a 229, after a final-round 76. 

The general theory is that the toughest way to win a golf tournament is to lead wire to wire, which is what Burnham did at Mendakota 

She birdied the first hole in the first round on Tuesday, and was the co-leader at the end of the opening day, having shot 73. After the second day, she was alone at the top with a cumulative 148, but the challengers were lined up behind her, starting with Neisen at 149.

Once the final round started, Neisen went right to work. She hit a 5-wood second shot just short of the green at the first hole and chipped in for an eagle, which put her one ahead of Burnham.

Burnham drew even when Neisen three-putted the green at the par-3 second, and Burnham stuck her nose in front when she hit her tee shot within 3 feet of the cup at the 140-yard, par-3 fourth and made the putt for a birdie.

"I really wasn't nervous at all," Burnham said afterward. "I was able to stay calm and concentrate on hitting the shots that I needed to hit." 

The two were tied again after Neisen birdied the sixth, and it stayed that way as both players hit their tee shots close at the par-3 seventh and made matching birdies. But another Neisen three-putt at the eighth put Burnham back in front once again.

At the 465-yard, par-5 13th, momentum switched sides yet again. Neisen made a birdie, Burnham a bogey. 

So Neisen was one ahead. They both bogeyed the 192-yard, par-3 14th, and Neisen three-putted the 15th for a bogey, thereby falling back into a tie. Burnham then took the lead again with a birdie at the 16th, but at the 17th she three-putted from about 50 feet.

Burnham nearly hit the pin with her second shot at the 343-yard, par-4 18th, and Neisen missed the green to the left. But she got it up and down for par, and Burnham two-putted to tie her and send the contest into extra holes. 

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S GOLF ASSOCIATION

Women's State Amateur Championship

At Mendakota Country Club 

Par 72, 6,131 yards

Mendota Heights

Final results

Championship Flight 

1. Sarah Burnham                  73-75-72--220* (won three-hole playoff)

2. McKenzie Neisen               74-75-71--220

T3. Olivia Lansing                   77-73-75--225

T3. Celia Kuenster                  76-75-74--225

5. Jaclyn Shepherd                 75-78-73--226

6. Kristen Wagner                    76-77-76--229

7. Teresa Puga                         73-76-81--230

8. Maggie Leland                     76-78-78--232

9. Leigh Klasse                         77-82-74--233

10. Steffi Neisen                       76-79-80--235

T11. Alex Schmid                     74-81-82--237

12. Cassie Deeg                       80-82-76--238

T13. Anna Laorr                        80-85-75--240

T13. Sadie Martin                     83-79-78--240

T13. Tiffany Gretsch                 78-79-83--240

Playoff                     No. 1       No. 11         No. 12

Par                              5                 4                 5

Yardage                   476             352            528

Burnham                     5                 3                 5

Neisen                         5                 5                 5