Doeden Makes a Memorable Farewell at Mankato

By Mike Fermoyle (mikefermoyle@gmail.com)  

MANKATO -- Justin Doeden won't be back at Mankato Golf Club to defend his Krugel Invitational championship next year -- he will turn professional before the end of the month -- but he gave the field and the gallery something to remember him by over the weekend. 

Basically, the recently graduated University of Minnesota star put on a clinic Saturday and Sunday while winning the tournament for the second consecutive year. It was a virtuoso performance as he played 45 holes in 7 under par (67-35-68--170) and won by four strokes over six-time champ J.B. Lloyd and former MGA Player of the Year Trent Peterson, but he could have just as easily won by eight. 

"That was an impressive display of ball-striking," Lloyd marvelled afterward. "He seemed to be inside of 15 feet putting for birdie every hole -- except the holes where he was putting for eagle."

The image that will really stick with anyone who saw it was a 227-yard 3-iron second shot into a 10- or 12-mile-per-hour wind at the 514-yard, par-5 11th.

Having just hit a 9-iron second shot to the green for a two-putt birdie at the 506-yard, par-5 10th, Doeden was in position to separate himself from his pursuers. But there was water in front of and to the left of the green, and a pull or a hook could have had the opposite effect. The 3-iron shot was a bullet that never left the flag and landed surprisingly softly at the front of the green, then trickled to within 4 feet of the cup. 

"One of the best shots I've ever seen," was how Lloyd described it. 

It should have led to an eagle, but Doeden missed the putt on the low side. 

"I misread it," he lamented.

Actually, it was probably fitting that he missed the putt, because he missed a lot of putts Saturday and Sunday. Most of them grazed the edge of the cup. Besides that shot on 11, the other image that spectators will have of Doeden will be of him tapping in 4- and 5-inch putts for par. 

There was a crowd at the top of the leaderboard as the final round began, and Doeden surrendered the lead that he held for most of the weekend when he missed the green at No. 1 (390 yards, par 4). It didn't take him long to reassert himself, however, as he birdied No. 3 (193, par 3) and No. 4 (483, par 5). One of the few drives that he missed the fairway with came at the 488-yard, par-5 seventh. It ended up in the trees, but he hit a low 4-iron under the branches of the tree in front of him  and got it onto the green, 205 yards away. The result was yet another two-putt birdie. 

Doeden hit 14 of 18 greens in the final round, but he hit three par-5's in two in his valedictory 68 at Mankato. So the net effect was the same as hitting 17 of 18 greens. 

The seventh hole was where Lloyd fell out of contention. After hitting his drive into the right rough, he tried to cut a rescue around some trees, but instead pulled the shot out of bounds. His next shot hit a tree and bounced back 30 yards. When the carnage of that hole was complete, the 51-year-old former two-time MGA Players champ (he won that tournament for the first time at Mankato GC in 1993) had made a triple-bogey 8. 

Lloyd followed that with a missed 3-footer for par at the 385-yard, par-4 eighth, which dropped him back to even par -- six strokes behind Doeden. But he rallied on the back nine, beginning with a gorgeous 210-yard 4-iron second shot over the hazzard and onto the green at the par-5 10th and two putts for a birdie. He added two more birdies before he was done, played the back nine in 32 (3 under) and finished with a 72 for his share of second at 174. 

Peterson has won nearly every tournament that there is for an amateur to win in Minnesota, including the state high school (2005), State Amateur, the MGA Players, the State Open, the State Publinx and the Four-Ball. He has never won the Krugel, mainly because he had never played in it before this year. His first appearance was impressive. 

After an opening 68 on Saturday, he shot 34 on the back nine Sunday morning. Although he's not known as a long-hitter, he did some nice work on the front-nine par-5's Sunday afternoon, hitting two majestic 3-wood shots onto the greens at the fifth and seventh holes to set up birdies. But a couple of uncharacteristic mistakes at No. 8, where he hit a wedge shot over the green and into an impossible position, and No. 9, where he missed a 3-foot putt for par, derailed his charge. 

Like Lloyd, he closed with a 72.

As it turned out, the last threat to Doeden was posed by Terry O'Loughlin, who like Peterson, is a former state high school champion (1987), Players champ and MGA Player of the Year. He got to 4 under par for the final round midway through the back nine, which put him at 5 under for the tournament. But two late bogeys put him at 70 for the round and dropped him back into fourth place at 175. 

One of the biggest surprises of the weekend was finding out that Doeden isn't exempt for the State Amateur. After winning the Krugel last year, he was the Gophers' best player throughout the 2016-17 college season and received an invitation to the NCAA regionals, where he played well and finished in the top 20. If someone this good isn't exempt for the State Am, the MGA might want to consider revising its criteria for handing out exemptions.

In any case, Doeden tried to qualify for the Am, had a bad round and missed. So he'll turn pro for the State Open, which he has qualified for, and play in a few tournaments laer this summer before going into the Web.com Q-School, a four-stage process that begins with a Pre-Qualifying Stage at the end of August.  


MEN'S AMATEUR GOLF

Krugel Invitational

At Mankato Golf Club

Par 71, 6,197 yards

Mankato

Final results 

1. Justin Doeden                     67-35-68--170

T2. J.B. Lloyd                          68-34-72--174

T2. Trent Peterson                  68-34-72--174

4. Terry O'Loughlin                  71-34-70--175