Jacobson and Welle Lead After the Opening Round of the MGA Amateur Championship

• 110th MGA Amateur Championship First-Round Play
• 110th MGA Am Rd. 2
• 110th MGA Am Rd. 3
• 110th MGA Annual Awards Dinner, Midland Hills CC

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By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  MEDINA, Minn. – Underneath a blazing sun, 156 players took to Medina Golf and Country Club Monday as the 110th Minnesota Golf Association Amateur Championship got underway.

Temperatures hit mid-80s but felt much warmer as the humidity swarmed players as they made their way around the 7,257-yard course.

When the round concluded it was Andy Jacobson and Ben Welle on top of the leaderboard as the two opened the tournament at 3-under par 69.

“The course is there for the taking,” Jacobson said after his opening round. “The pins you’ve got to be cautious of, but if you’re on the right side of the hole, I thought they were fine. The name of the course is Rolling Greens and there’s a reason for it,” Jacobson said, referring to the speed of the putting surface.

“I played solid golf—I’ll take a 69 all day long,” he said. “A little bit of everything was working for me today. I putted well and tried to play smart.”

Jacobson, Eagle Creek Golf Club, said he also got fired up by playing in the same group as Genki Hirayama, who won the MGA Players’ Championship in June, and also Troy Johnson who won the MGA Mid-Players’ Championship last month. He figured if he could keep up with the two of them, that he could match up with just about anyone in the tournament.

Hardly a slouch, Jacobson knows his way around the golf course as he won the MGA Players’ Championship last year at Windsong Farm and finished tied for fifth at the Amateur Championship a year ago at Hastings Country Club.

Jacobson began his afternoon with a blemish-free front nine as he made six pars to start and made birdie on 16 and 18 (he began on No. 10) to go 2-under after nine holes. His superb play continued on the back nine as he made back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes to move to 4-under par before his only mistake of the day, a bogey on the sixth hole, dropped him back to 3-under.

On the final hole of the afternoon, Jacobson’s approach found the bunker left of the green where he almost holed-out for birdie, but instead tapped in for a tremendous par save to keep his solid round intact.

“I’m a grinder—I’m going to do what I have to do to be in the thick of things come Wednesday. This course sets up nice for me and fits my eye, so tomorrow I need to go out and do the same thing I did today,” Jacobson said.

Ben Welle, Village Green Golf Club, got off to a fantastic start Monday with three consecutive birdies on the 11th, 12th and 13th holes (began on No. 10) to go 3-under through four holes. With another birdie on the 17th, Welle moved to 4-under but gave a shot back on the final hole of the front nine to finish at 3-under par 33 at the turn.

Welle’s only mistakes of the afternoon came on the second and fourth holes where he would make bogey, but erased them with back-to-back birdies on the fifth and sixth holes and went on the make par the final three holes on the back nine to finish at 36, 3-under par 69 for the round.

Jesse Polk sits just one shot behind the leaders as he carded a 2-under par 70 Monday and stands tied for third.

“I putted really well. I thought most of the holes were accessible; there are a lot of swales on these greens but if you hit the right number you could get close,” Polk said following his round.

The only thing giving Polk struggled with Monday was the driver.

“I hit it terrible today. I hit a lot of 3-woods and irons off the tee which really worked. I hit 16 greens and when I missed shots, I missed them on the low side so I was able to chip on pretty easy,” he said.

Polk, Hastings Country Club, began his round on the 10th hole and started with back-to-back birdies to quickly move to 2-under. He went on to par the next six holes before his drive on 18 found a row of trees and Polk ended up making bogey to finish the first nine holes at 1-under 35.

On the back Polk again started strong with back-to-back birdies to move to 3-under for the round before a bogey on the sixth hole dropped him back to 2-under par. He made par on the next three holes to go into the clubhouse at 2-under par 70 for the afternoon.

Polk reached the quarterfinals at the Players’ Championship last month and has just one goal in mind this week.

“I want to win. The Players’ was a disappointment for me so I’m coming in with a little chip on my shoulder. I know this is a good golf course for me being a little bit longer and a bit wide open,” he said. “Tomorrow hopefully I can get my driver figured out, but I know I can still play well off the tee with my woods and irons. I’m just going to stick to my plan of playing smart and hitting the fat part of the green. With another solid round of one or two-under, I should be in good shape.”

Sam Matthew, Midland Hills Country Club, sits along side of Polk as he also carded a 2-under par 70 Monday.

“I putted well, which wasn’t easy to do considering the condition these greens were in today,” Matthew said. “I struck the ball well on the first few holes and had short putts on all three of those holes.”

“My ball striking slipped a bit mid-round and I made some wayward shots but I was able to get up and down. Then I finished strong by making some putts,” he said.

Matthew began his round on the tenth hole and started with back-to-back birdies to quickly move to 2-under but his red number would vanish with back-to-back bogies on the 13th and 14th holes as he drew even.

Another birdie on the par-3 17th hole moved Matthew back to 1-under heading into the turn. Matthew began the back nine with a birdie on the second hole, but followed it up with a bogey on the third.

As he said, he finished strong with a birdie and six pars to finish his day at 2-under par 70.

Johnny Larson, Decotah Ridge Golf Club, Dominic Kieffer, Somerby Golf Club, and Brent Jacobson, Rush Creek Golf Club, stand tied for fifth place as they finished at 1-under par 71, while six players are tied at even par.

The shot of the day belonged to Grady Meyer, Windsong Farm, who carded an ace on the 217-yard, par-3 fourth hole using a 3-iron.

Tee times for the second round begin at 7:30 a.m. Tuesday with the final groups teeing off at 2:30 p.m.


For complete tournament results with hole-by-hole scoring go to: http://www.mngolf.org/Tournaments/110th_MGA_Amateur_Championship