Israelsons, Bemidji State Dominate Friday Action at Birchmont

BEMIDJI -- The Israelson siblings, Emily and Andrew, will both be trying to win their third Birchmont Golf Tournament title in four years on Saturday. 

Emily is a little closer to another championship. She is the defending champion -- and therefore the No. 1 seed -- in the Women's Division Championship Flilght. And the former Augustana University star is in the women's final. She got there in convincing fashion, defeating the No. 4 seed, Morgan Hetletved, 6&5 on Friday in the semifinals at Bemidji Town & Country Club. Israelson was 5 up after six holes against the former North Dakota state high school champ, a sophomore to be at St. Cloud State, and cruised from there.

"I've just been solid," said Israelson, who first won this tournament in 2016, then won it again last year. "I don't usually tend to make a ton of mistakes."

In the Saturday afternoon final, she will be facing Abbie Kelm, a soon-to-be sophomore at North Dakota. Although she is the No. 2 seed, Kelm has been living dangerously. She needed 19 holes to beat Alyssa Konecne in her first match on Wednesday, and she worked overtime again on Friday aganst No. 3 seed Haily Abel in the semis. Trailing 1 down after 16 holes, Kelm won the 17th with a par, halved the 18th with another par and won the match with a par on the first extra hole. 

As for the Men's Division Championship Flight, Andrew Israelson was the only thing preventing a Bemidji State sweep of the quarterfinals on Friday. Chris Swenson, who will be a senior for the Beavers during the  2019-20 season, is the No. 9 seed at Birchmont this week, and he ended the Cinderella Story of Duane Wages Jr., the No. 32 seed. Wages got the last spot in the match-play portion of the tournament in a 6-for-5 playoff on Tuesday, then knocked off the defending champion, Nick Schaefer, in the Round of 32. He won again in the second round, 1 up over James Foss, but Swenson ended Wages' run on Friday, 3&2. 

Birchmont is the first of the three match-play tournaments that make up Minnesota's Resort Circuit. The Resorters is the second, and the Pine to Palm in Detroit Lakes is the third. Swenson won the Pine to Palm in 2017. 

The other quarterfinal winner in the Upper Bracket was Cody Cook, who completed his senior season at Bemidji State this spring. Cook, too, was in the 6-for-5 playoff, but he got out early and is the No. 29 seed. On Friday, he dispatched the No. 12 seed, Gage Stromme, 5&4.

Bemidji State is guaranteed one finalist on Saturday afternoon, because Swenson will face Cook in the first semifinal Saturday morning. 

The other semifinal will pit Matthew Gregg, a senior to be for the Beavers, against Israelson, a former Minnesota Mr. Golf (the award given to the state's top high school senior) who will be a senior at North Dakota State this fall. Israelson is the No. 3 seed, and he beat one of Gregg's Bemidji State teammates, senior-to-be Brennan Hockman (No. 22), 3&2 in the quarters. But Gregg, the No. 23 seed, was equally impressive on Friday, as he dismissed the No. 2 seed, Lucas Johnson, 4&3. Johnson is a teammate of Israelson's at NDSU.

Israelson's father, Bill Israelson, was a winner of virtually every major championship that Minnesota has to offer, including the State Amateur (3 times), State Open, Minnesota Golf Champions and the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am. He also won the Birchmont twice, in 1973 and '79 (and the Pine to Palm three times, in 1976, '77 and '80). Andrew, who captured the MGA Players Championshiip earlier this summer, won the Birchmont twice in a row, in 2016 and '17, before surrendering the title to Schaefer last year.   

MINNESOTA RESORT CIRCUIT

The Birchmont Golf Tournament

At Bemidji Town & Country Club

Bemidji 

Men's Division

Championship Flight

Round of 32

Duane Wages (32) def. Nick Schaefer (1) 3&2

Matt Norby (16) def. James Foss (17) 2&1

Beck Erholtz (8) def. Dylan Naylor (25) 3&1

Chrisi Swenson (9) def. Nate Deziel (24) 2&1

Cody Cook (29) def. Chad Skarperud (4) 2&1

Matt Haugstad (13) def. Alex Barrett (20) 5&4

Zach Israelson (5) def. Zach Hischberger (28) 3&2

Gage Stromme (12) def. Tony Vanyo (21) 3&2

Lucas Johnson (2) def. Tim Skarperud (31) 3&2

Trey Dale (18) def. Adam Van Raden (15) 3&2

Toby Palmiscno (7) def. Michael Hendricks (26) 5&4

Matthew Gregg (23) def. Luke Sheetz (10) 1 up

Andrew Israelson (3) def. Alex Skarperud (30) 3&1

Josh Bergurd (19) def. Justin Johnson (14) 3&2

Matt Skarperud (6) def. Sam Tollette (27) 1 up

Brennan Hockman (22) def. Andrew Lindberg (11) 3&2

Round of 16

Wages (32) def. Foss (17) 1 up

Swenson (9) def. Erholtz (8) 3&1

Cook (29) def. Haugstad (13) 3&2

Stromme (12) def. Z. Israelson (5) 1 up

Johnson (2) def. Dale (18) 5&4

Gregg (23) def. Palmiscno (7) 2&1

A. Israelson (3) def. Bergurd (19) 9&7

Hockman (22) def. M. Skaperud (6) 1 up

Quarterfinals

Swenson (9) def. Wages (32) 3&2

Cook (29) def. Stromme (12) 5&4

Gregg (23) def. Johnson (2) 4&3

Israelson (3) def. Hockman (22) 3&2 


Women's Division 

Championship Flight

Round of 16

Emily Israelson (DC) def. Kylen Fenson (16) 3&2

Haley Tollette (8) def. Tatum Offerdahl (9) 4&2

Morgan Heltetved (4) def. Jenna Palmiscno (13) 2&1

Heather Erholtz (12) def. Taylor Offerdahl (5) 19 holes

Abbie Kelm (2) def. Alyssa Konecne (15) 19 holes

Olivia Klefsaas (7) def. Carrie Lundgren (10) 19 holes

Haily Abel (3) def. Amber Koth (14) 4&3

Anna Tollette (6) def. Anna Graveline (11) 6&5 

Quarterfinals

Israelson (1) def. H. Tollette (8) 2&1

Hetletved (4) def. Erholtz (12) 2&1

Kelm (2) def. Klefsaas (7) 3&1

Abel (3) def. A. Tollette (6) 5&4
 
Semifinals

Israelson (1) def. Hetletved (4) 6&5

Kelm (2) def. Abel (3) 19 holes