Front-Nine Birdie Binge Propels Jenkins to 2nd Birchmont Title

BEMIDJI -- Thomas Wolfe's assertion notwithstanding, you can go home again -- and win -- as Tom Jenkins demonstrated last week. 

Jenkins, who grew up in Bemidji, played on the Lumberjacks' 1997 state championship golf team and went on to play for Bemidji State University, now lives in Plymouth. But he goes back to his hometown every summer to play in the Birchmont tournament at Bemidji Country Club, and he has now won it twice, after defeating another former Bemidji State golfer, Jim Foss, 3&1 in the 2014 final on Saturday afternoon.

A prodigiously long hitter, the 35-year-old Jenkins won the first hole of the championship match with a par and then took advantage of his length by winning with birdies at the short (314-yard), par-4 third hole and the 500-yard, par-5 fourth. He made his third birdie in a row at the 389-yard, par-4 fifth and went 5 up with a par on the 421-yard, par-4 sixth.  

At that point, it looked like a blowout, but then Foss began cutting into Jenkins' lead. He started his comeback by winning the eighth hole with a par. Foss, who is from Roseau, was still 4 down as he stood on the tee at the 12th hole (405 yards, par 4), and then things got interesting. 

Foss won the 12th with a birdie, lost the 13th (350, par 4) to a par, then won the 14th (181, par 3) with a par and the 492-yard, par-5 15th with a birdie, thereby cutting the deficit he faced to 2 down. 

Jenkins blunted Foss's momentum by halving the 16th with a par, and the former MGA Players champion (2007) sealed his victory by winning the 17th (354, par 4) with a birdie. 

"The difference in the match was that I got off to a fast start," Jenkins said afterward. "The birdies on 3, 4 and 5 helped me take control. But I knew Jim would come back."

In both the qualifying and match-play portions of the tournament, Jenkins started somewhat slowly. He shot a 4-over 76 in the first round of qualifying, but came back with a 68 to tie for fourth. (The top 31 finishers plus defending champ Bill Carlson advanced.)

Then in match play, he needed all 18 holes to subdue his first opponent, Ty Kennedy, 1 up. After that, Jenkins, who won his first Birchmont crown in 2009, never saw the 18th hole again. He beat Adam Van Raden 2&1 in the second round, Drew Gumlia 6&5 in the quarterfinals and Toby Palmscno 3&2 Saturday morning in the semifinals. 

Another former champion, Bob Brink (2004), was the medalist with a tidy little 137 (69-68) for 36 holes. That was five strokes better than the next best score, a 142 (70-72) by Zach Israelson, the son of former Birchmont champ Bill Israelson. But Israelson lost to fellow Staples-Motley alumnus Michael Strain, 2&1 in the first round, and neither Brink nor defending champ Carlson made it much further. Carlson was ambushed 3&1 by A.J. Oster in the second round, and Gumlia beat Brink 1 up on the same day.

Strain also knocked off Johnny Larson, a former Birchmont champ and also a former Minnesota state high school champion, 3&2 in the second round. He was then dispatched 1 up by Oster, who lost 2&1 to Foss in the semis.

Katie Sheetz won the Women's Division for the second year in a row, but she had to work overtime for this one. The junior-to-be at the University of Minnesota-Crookston needed 21 holes to defeat Emily Israelson in the final.

After beating Jenna Palmiscno 3&1 in the semis, Sheetz quickly got ahead of Israelson, a 2014 Staples-Motley graduate (she tied for ninth in the Class AA portion of the state high school tournament this spring), and was 3 up after eight holes. Israelson battled back and won the 18th hole with a par to force extra holes.

Israelson then made a 4-footer for par on the first extra hole. On the second, Sheetz had to scramble for a bogey, and Israelson missed a 5-footer for par that would have won the match. Sheetz settled the issue by winning the third bonus hole with a bogey.     

The Birchmont

At Bemidji Country Club

Semifinals 

Jim Foss, Roseau, def. A.J. Oster, Ham Lake, 2&1; Tom Jenkins, Plymouth, def. Toby Palmiscno, Bemidji, 3&2

Final

Jenkins def. Foss 3&1 

Women's Division

Semifinals 

Katie Sheetz, Grand Rapids, def. Jenna Palmiscno, Bemidji, 3&1; Emily Israelson, Staples, def. Haley Tollette, 7&6

Final 

Sheetz def. Israelson 21 holes