Israelson Is Mr. Golf; Smith Is Ms. Golf

High School

INDEPENDENCE -- The first question that Staples-Motley coach Glen Hasselberg gets asked about his star player, Andrew Israelson, is usually this: Does he like to play from the fairway? Or does he play like his dad? 

"He's a chip off the old block," Hasselberg responds. "And the deeper he is in the trees, the more spectacular the next shot it likely to be. He has an amazing ability to get out of trouble." 

Israelson's father, Bill Israelson, is probably the most famous escape artist that Minnesota golf has ever produced. He established a modern era record by winning the State Amateur three consecutive years (1976-78), even though he probably missed more fairways than he hit in those three tournaments. Israelson the Elder, who turned professional in 1980, went on to win every title available to Minnesota pros -- the State Open, Minnesota Golf Champions, State PGA, State PGA Match Play and the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am -- and was inducted into the Minnesota Golf Hall of Fame in 2009. 

One of the few omissions on Bill's resume is the state high school tournament. But Andrew took care of that for the family two years ago, when he tied for first in the Class AA portion of the state tournament at The Ridges at Sand Creek. 

He'll try to win it again this week. The 2016 high school tournament will be played Tuesday and Wednesday at three sites: Class A at Pebble Creek in Becker, AA at the Ridges and AAA at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids. 

So far this year, Israelson the Younger has won 13 times, including the Section 6AA individual championship last week, and on Sunday night he claimed another title when he was named Minnesota's first Mr. Golf. The award, which will be given each year to the state's top senior, was announced during the inaugural Mr. Golf/Ms. Golf Banquet at Windsong Farm GC.

Israelson was considered a slight favorite to be proclaimed Mr. Golf. One of the players he tied for 2014 AA title, Mankato East's Carter Haley, the 2015 MGA Junior Player of the Year, was generally regarded as the No. 2 choice. 

The winner of the Ms. Golf Award, on the other hand, was a foregone conclusion -- Kate Smith.

Smith won her fourth consecutive state high school championship last year, thereby tying the record that was set by Minnehaha Academy's Katie Detlefsen in 2007. This week, the Detroit Lakes senior will  try to separate herself from Detlefsen by winning a fifth in a row, also in Class AA at Ridges. 

Like Israelson, she won her section championship, and she did it in convincing fashion. Her 36-hole total of 143 at Bemidji Town & Country Club gave her a 15-stroke victory. It was her 14th triumph in 16 tournaments this year.  

Smith began playing golf when she was 5 years old, but it wasn't love at first sight. 

"I thought it was a little boring," she remembers. 

When she was 8, she played in her first tournament, and there were medals and trophies to win. Suddenly, golf seemed more interesting. She loved the competition, and from then on golf was her No. 1 sport, moving ahead of basketball. That was her other sport until eighth grade, when she decided to give it up. 

That was also the year she won her first state high school championship, by nine strokes with a 70-70--140 (4 under) at Ridges. While she was at it, she helped Detroit Lakes win the team title.  

"I was surprised to win it the first time," she says. "It's just not something you expect to do."

The next year, 2013, rain forced the shortening of the tournament to 27 holes, and Smith came from two behind on the nine holes that were played the second day to tie her teammate Natalie Roth for first. They both ended up at 108, which is even par. (The Minnesota State High School League doesn't break ties at the state tournament.)

There was another tie at the top in 2014, as Smith and Maggie Heggerston of Pequot Lakes shot matching 73-70--143's, and the Detroit Lakes team also won its third team title in a row. 

Smith owns five course records. Among those, the lowest score is a 64 that she shot at Israelson's home course, the Vintage in Staples.

Last year, Smith broke the Class AA scoring record that she had set three years earlier, with a 68-69--137. She needed to go that low, because Jenna Janu of Minnewaska also bettered the old record with a 68-71-139. But for the first time during her reign as individual champion, DL did not take home the team crown. Red Wing edged the Lakers 634 to 637. 

Smith, who will be headed for the University of Nebraska in the fall, says that even though her remarkable success does put some pressure on her, she has felt a little less nervous each year during her reign as champion.

"I know have more experience now," she says, "and I pretty much know what to expect. I've been in these situations before." 

So what sort of goals does she have going into this year's tournament?

They have more to do with score than winning, actually. 

"In girls golf, the par-5's are usually reachable," she points out. "So I should be able to birdie them most of the time. That makes most courses (including Ridges) more like a par-68, and that's basically the number I'm looking at." 

Israelson has been on the Staples-Motley varsity team for six years, but he didn't play in the state tournament when he was in seventh grade, which means this will be his fifth appearance. In those five years, he's won the section title three times. He's just under 6 feet now -- and towers over his 5-9 father -- and he weighs roughly 150 pounds. But he was 5-2 the first time he played in the state tournament.

He doesn't remember exactly when he started playing golf, only that he played cross-handed at first. 

Bill Israelson never worried too much about the technical aspects of the golf swing, and he told his son just to play and have fun. Andrew was more than happy to take that advice. He doesn't spend endless hours on the practice range beating balls.

"I just play," he says, "and figure it out as I go along."

He tied for 16th in his state tournament debut as an eighth-grader in 2012. A year later, he moved into the top 10, tying for seventh. Another Staples-Motley kid, Mitch Hagenson, finished third that year, and the the two of them led Staples-Motley to the team championship. 

When Israelson and Haley were both sophomores, two years ago, they tied then-senior Andrew Sederlund of Virginia/Mountain Iron-Buhl for medalist honors with two-day totals of 144 (even par). Both were in the same neighborhood again last year -- Haley with a 145 and Israelson a 146 -- but Reece Sanders of Blake lit up the Ridges  with a 67 the first day and won the title with a 138. Haley was third. Israelson tied for fourth. 

Israelson, like most of the other elite high school players these days, hits his drive right around 300 yards in calm conditions. As a result, most of the par-5's are in range of his second shots. Even so, the North Dakota State recruit doesn't expect to be in the 60's every time he tees it up.

"I just want to be under par," he says. "If I can do that, then everything else will take care of itself."        


2016 Ms. Minnesota Golf Finalists
Hannah Hankinson- Edina
Abby Herding- Westbrook Walnut
Taylor Ledwein- New Prague
Katie McMillan- Minnetonka
Ally Rogers- Spring Lake Park
Emily Schimbano- Lake City
Kate Smith- Detroit Lakes
Brianna Vetter- Lakeville North
 
2016 Mr. Minnesota Golf Finalists
Brett Buckingham- Minnewaska
Carter Haley- Mankato East
Ben Hauge- Anoka
Blake Kahlbaugh- Mahnomen
Anson Kuznik- Mound Westonka
Andrew Israelson- Staples-Motley
Scott Marston- White Bear Lake
Austin vanSytzama- Delano