Men's World Amateur Rankings -- Nov. 20
November 20, 2024
HASTINGS, Minn. -- The wind never really showed up on Tuesday at Hastings Country Club for the second round of the MGA State Amateur Championship.
As a result, the combination of blue skies, high temperatures (in the 90's) and high humidity (in the 70's) made it feel like a steambath, but course was there for the taking. It wasn't easy. Pins were still tucked, or positioned close to major slopes, such as the one on No. 14, where there were tales of players hitting 15- and 20-foot birdie putts from above the cup a little too hard and ending up 10 yards down the fairway in front of the green.
You had to hit precise shots. But if you did, you could make some birdies.
So as the heat index soared into triple digits, the scores came down markedly. Whereas there had been only one player under par on Monday, and two at par (71), there were eight players under par on Tuesday, and five more at par.
The player who made the most of the favorable conditions was Frederick Van Rooyen, the South African import who will be a senior at the University of Minnesota in a few weeks. Van Rooyen, who was unquestionably the Gophers' No. 1 player during the 2011-12 school year, made six birdies on Tuesday while shooting a 68, and he leads the tournament going into Wednesday's final round with a 36-hole aggregate of 140.
That has him one stroke ahead of first-round leader Jesse Bull, who was cruising along in the second and got to 5 under for the tournament -- 2 under for the day -- when he birdied the 420-yard, par-4 14th. But then he got on the Bogey Train and couldn't get off. He made four bogeys in a row on the way in, which worked out to a 73.
Consequently, he's no longer in front, but he's only one behind at 141.
Former State Am champ David Christensen shot 72 and is one of four players tied for third at 143. Beau Hanson, a former state high school champ (2010) -- and Odessa College recruit -- from Frazee is also at 143, after a second-round 69, and so is Matt Schneider, a former MGA Junior Player of the Year who posted a 71.
The other player who's Plus 1 for the tournament is Dan Moline, and he's got some momentum on his side, having won two tournaments in the last month. In late June, he won the Reidar Lund in Duluth, and on Sunday he won the Cloquet Invitational in a playoff.
He shot 70 on Tuesday.
Another two-time winner in 2012 is Sammy Schmitz, and he's tied for seventh after a 72 put him at 145. He was still kicking himself after the round over a double-bogey 7 that he made on the 525-yard, par-5 12th hole, which was his third hole of the day.
There were five sub-70 rounds on Tuesday, but the only other player to shoot 68 besides Van Rooyen was Andy Jacobson, the recently crowned MGA Players' champion.
Jacobson had a rough go of it at the end of his first round. At the 465-yard, par-4 16th (it's a par-5 for the members), his second shot caught the right lip of a greenside bunker, careened to the left, jumped out of the bunker and ended up going out of bounds.
He then bogeyed the 17th and 18th holes -- making him 5 over on the last five holes -- for a 79.
"He didn't play that badly," said Schimtz, who played with Jacobson during the first two rounds. "He was just really unlucky, I thought."
Jacobson wrote a much happier end to his second round, making birdies at the par-5 seventh (his 16th hole) and the par-3 eighth and narrowly missing a birdie at the par-4 ninth.
"I really wanted to make that putt," he said afterward.
Nevertheless, at 147 and tied for 14th place, he's still probably on the outer limit from which a player could come back to win on Wednesday. After all, Gary Player came back from eight behind to win the 1978 Masters, and Billy Casper was seven behind Arnold Palmer with nine holes to go in the 1966 U.S. Open, which Casper eventually won in a playoff.
The dramatic improvement in scoring on Day 2 of the State Am translated into a much lower cut than was expected. Instead of being 158 or 157, it ended up being 154.
MINNESOTA GOLF ASSOCIATION
State Amateur Championship
At Hastings Country Club
Par 71, 6,730 yards
Second-round results
1. Frederick Van Rooyen 72-68--140
2. Jesse Bull 68-73--141
T3. David Christensen 71-72--143
T3. Matt Schneider 72-71--143
T3. Beau Hanson 74-69--143
T3. Dan Moline 73-70--143
T7. Sammy Schmitz 73-72--145
T7. Colton Buege 75-70--145
T7. Jesse Larson 76-69--145
T7. Alex Robb 76-69--145
T11. Tommy Smith 74-72--146
T11. Jesse Polk 76-70--146
T11. Nicholas Forsberg 71-75--146
November 20, 2024
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November 18, 2024
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November 11, 2024
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