A Pair of 64's Share the Early Lead at Senior Four-Ball at Indian Hills

By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  STILLWATER, Minn. – The team of John Anderson and Bill Tadewald fired an 8-under par 64 Tuesday to share the lead with Mike Cleland and David Hanson during the opening round of the 41st Minnesota Golf Association Senior Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Indian Hills Golf Club.

Anderson and Tadewald, both of Bunker Hills Golf Club, began their round with a couple of pars before rolling in three consecutive birdies to drop to 3-under before rolling in another at the seventh.

After back-to-back birdies at the 12th and 13th, the two went to 5-under and finished the first round with another pair of birdies on the final two holes to card an 8-under par 64.

“Today went really good—any time you can best-ball it for a 64, that’s pretty good,” Anderson said.

“We did make a lot of birdies, but we did a good job of covering each other,” Tadewald added. “If one guy got a little crooked or was out of the hole, the other guy held it together.”

Anderson said they both had multiple chances, which took a lot of pressure off because neither player was out of a hole very often.

“We had a nice stretch right out of the shoot with three [birdies] in a row so that kind of set the tone, but we didn’t want to get ahead of ourselves,” Tadewald said.

“We didn’t really think about it and kept plugging along,” Anderson replied. “We just never threatened bogey, our longest par putt was about two feet. We both played good together, finally.”

The two had little expectations coming into the tournament, and as they begin the final round tied for the lead, have fewer expectations for the final round.

“We’ve played long enough to know the golf gods can shine on you and they can also be cruel some days,” Tadewald laughed.

Cleland and Hanson, both of Pebble Creek Golf Club began on the tenth hole and quickly got to 1-under with a birdie at the 11th.

The two carded four straight pars before getting hot and making six consecutive birdies starting on the 16th and jumped to 7-under.

The pair added one last birdie for good measure on the eighth hole to finish the round tied for the lead at 8-under par 64.

Jerry Rose and Mike Herzog carded a 6-under par 66 Tuesday to sit tied for third along with Steve Johnson and Brad Grupa.

Rose, Alexandria Golf Club, and Herzog, Windsong Farm, got off to a quick start with a birdie as they started on the 10th tee and added another at the 12th to quickly get to 2-under.

After five consecutive pars, the duo rolled in another birdie on the 18th to make the turn at 3-under par 33.

Rose and Herzog remained at 3-under through the first five holes on the front before making three straight birdies to move to 6-under for the championship, finishing with a par on the final hole to card a 66.

Johnson and Grupa, both of Elk River Golf Club, also got off to a quick start with birdies on two of their first three holes and would get to 3-under with another birdie at the 15th.

After rolling in their fourth birdie on their opening nine holes, the two headed to the back at 4-under. Johnson and Grupa made birdies at the first and third holes to move to 6-under before dropping a shot with a bogey at the seventh.

They rebounded with a birdie on the seventh to get back to 6-under, where they would finish the opening round tied for third.

The team of Leif Carlson, Valleywood Golf Course, and Greg Murphy, Keller Golf Club, runners-up from last year, carded an opening round 5-under par 67 and sit tied for fifth place with David Kokesh, Bent Creek Golf Club, and David Rehfeldt, StoneRidge Golf Club, three strokes off the lead.

Defending champions Richard Blooston, Edina Country Club, and Tim Gonsior, Golden Valley Golf and Country Club, will begin Wednesday’s final round four strokes off the lead at 4-under par 68, tied for eighth place along with three other teams.

The final round of the MGA Senior Four-Ball Championship is set to get underway Wednesday with split tee times beginning at 8 a.m. at Indian Hills Golf Club.



41ST MGA SENIOR AMATEUR FOUR-BALL CHAMPIONSHIP
INDIAN HILLS GOLF CLUB
STILLWATER, MINN.
6,416 YARDS, PAR 72


TUESDAY’S RESULTS
T1. John Anderson/Bill Tadewald, 32-32–64
T1. Mike Cleland/David Hanson, 32-32—64
T3. Mike Herzog/Jerry Rose, 33-33—66
T3. Brad Grupa/Steve Johnson, 32-34—66
T5. David Kokesh/David Rehfeldt, 33-34—67
T5. John Juntilla/John Weiderholdt, 32-35—67
T5. Leif Carlson/Greg Murphy, 35-32—67
T8. Richard Blooston/Tim Gonsior, 33-35—68
T8. Mike Billstein/Tim O’Malley, 35-33—68
T8. David Mark Anderson/Terry Stockman, 34-34—68
T8. Steve Whittaker/Ray Sauer, 35-33—68


For complete tournament results go to: http://www.mngolf.org/Tournament/41st_MGA_Senior_Amateur_Four-Ball_Championship