By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org
HASTINGS, Minn. – Riding momentum from their win at last month’s Minnesota Golf Association Amateur Four-Ball Championship, the twosome of Nick Jarrett and Matt Norgaard rallied during their final nine holes Sunday at Emerald Greens Golf Club to claim a two-stroke victory at the 36th Minnesota Public Golf Association Combination Championship.
Jarrett and Norgaard carded an eagle and four birdies during an alternate shot format to edge the team of Jesse Larson and Jason Pendleton by two shots for Jarrett and Norgaard’s second win of the season.
“To win is awesome—that’s the goal. We felt like we were pretty flat the first two formats. We were playing okay, but there was nothing going on,” said Norgaard, combining to shoot 6-under with Jarrett over the final nine holes. “Then in the format you would think you’d have the most struggle with, we were always in good shape.”
“The last nine, my iron game wasn’t the sharpest, but we had a good rhythm of me hitting the drive and Matt would hit a nice approach shot and I’d make the putt,” Jarrett added. “Early on, we couldn’t really get anything going and the only reason we got to [6-under] was that we had two eagles.”
Jarrett rolled in back-to-back birdies to close out the final round of the MGA Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Brackett’s Crossing in August to help him and Norgaard force a playoff with the team of Alex Klehr and Tony Krogen before prevailing on the third extra hole.
“We pair well together and play enough golf together—we’ve both been playing solid. The first 18 holes we weren’t playing like we have been for the past month,” Jarrett said. “At the [MGA Four-Ball], I didn’t have my best game, but it was nice knowing Matt’s approach game was on because he’s so solid. That’s how it went on the last nine today.
“I felt like that four-ball win—we both didn’t have our best throughout, but we could play solid together and we both came up in the clutch when we needed it. I knew coming into today that if we needed to make a 4-footer, we would. The four pars we made on the last nine holes, we didn’t have a par putt over three feet.”
Playing a best-ball format to open the championship Sunday, Norgaard birdied the first before the two would drop back to even as the two carded their only bogey of the 27-hole event at the second. The two got a boost with an eagle at the ninth to move to 2-under and would card an eagle and two birdies during the scramble format to move into contention at 6-under.
Norgaard’s approach on the first hole of the alternate shot format stopped 10 feet from the flag, where Jarrett would roll in his birdie chance from 10 feet. Jarrett rolled in a second birdie from four feet at their 20th hole before Norgaard reciprocated with a birdie from 10 feet for a third consecutive birdie to move to 9-under.
Hitting a 7-iron to 30 feet at the par-5 14th hole on the Gold Course, Jarrett’s eagle putt trickled over the front edge of the cup to put his team at 11-under for the championship, and the two would finish with one final birdie at the 15th to post a 12-under 97.
Winning his second event since regaining his amateur status in 2019, Norgaard has now posted six top-10 finishes during that stretch, including a runner-up finish at the MGA Mid-Players’ Championship last season at Cannon Golf Club.
Jarrett, a former Concordia University-St. Paul golfer, picks up the fourth state victory of his career Sunday and fifth top-10 finish since 2018. Prior to his two wins this season, Jarrett claimed a pair of wins as a junior golfer in 2006 at the MPGA State Junior Public Links and the MGA Junior Amateur Team Championship.
After winning the MGA Amateur Four-Ball with Norgaard last month, Jarrett placed in a tie fourth at the MGA Mid-Amateur Championship at Eagle Creek Golf Club.
“It was fun to play some good team golf,” Jarrett said Sunday. “The last month I’ve been playing better. I had a slow start to the year, but the last five weeks has been a nice surprise.”
Larson and Pendleton began the championship with a 3-under 33 during the best ball format, but a strong second nine during the scramble portion of the championship put Larson and Pendleton quickly in contention, birdying the last eight holes to move to 11-under for the tournament.
The duo couldn’t find a rhythm over the final nine holes however, carding one birdie against two bogeys to finish two shots back of Jarrett and Norgaard at 10-under 99.
Justin Burleson and Jon Holmes carded a 7-under 102 to finish in third place, while the team of Anders Larson and Brian Moehnke placed fourth at 6-under 103.
THE 36TH MPGA COMBINATION CHAMPIONSHIP
EMERALD GREENS GOLF CLUB
HASTINGS, MINN.
SUNDAY’S FINAL RESULTS
1. Jarrett/Norgaard, 34-33-30—97
2. Larson/Pendleton, 33-29-37—99
3. Burleson/Holmes, 35-32-35—102
4. Larson/Moehnke, 34-33-36—103
T5. Brown/Strauman, 35-34-36—105
T5. Collins/Rezac, 38-33-34—105
T7. Baron/Baxley, 39-34-33—106
T7. Higgins/Randall, 37-33-36—106
T7. Onkka/Onkka, 37-34-35—106
For complete tournament results go to: www.golfgenius.com/pages/7720326847581411524
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