Johnson Makes It Interesting Again as He Claims 2nd Krugel Title

July 15, 2019 | 6 min.



MANKATO -- The general trend in golf, and especially in professional golf, is younger and longer. That was evident to anyone who watched the 3M Open over the July 4th weekend. In the end, it was a 20-year-old bomber barely a month removed from the end of his college career at Oklahoma State, Matthew Wolff, who claimed the $1.152 million first prize at the TPC Twin CIties in Blaine. He did it by hitting a 310-yard 3-wood on the 72nd hole and then launching a towering, 235-yard 5-iron second shot right over the flag, and making a 22-foot putt for eagle. That gave him a one-shot victory over 22-year-old Collin Morikawa and Bryson DeChambeau, the senior member of the final-day drama at age 25.

But at the Krugel Invitational, things have been going in the other direction. The latest example of that came Sunday, when 49-year-old Joel Johnson won the tournament for the second year in a row with a Sunday afternoon 69 (2 under par) at Mankato Golf Club. That equaled the best score of the tournament and gave him a 45-hole aggregate of 3-under 174 (two better than his winning total last year) -- and a four-stroke victory. Former Minnesota State Publinx champ Jon Hanner, Mitch Pfingsten and Matt Opsal tied for second at 178.

This is the fourth time in the last 10 years that someone has won consecutive Krugel championships -- and the third time that the repeat winner has been a 40-something. Steve Chesley, who won the state Class AA (large-class) high school championship in 1986, claimed the first of his two Krugels 23 years later, in 2009. J.B. Lloyd, who played in this tournament for the first time when he was 18 years old in 1984, won his second Krugel in a row -- and sixth overall -- 30 years later in 2014.

(If you do the math, you find that the average age for the winners of the last 11 Krugels has been 37.5 years old.)

The exception to the consecutive champion rule was Justin Doeden, who won in 2016 and defended the crown successfully in 2017, a month after concluding his college career at the University of Minnesota. He fit the modern mold, young and strong. No one who was watching the final round two years ago will ever forget the 227-yard 3-iron he hit into a strong (10- to 12-mph) wind -- and over the water -- on the par-5 11th hole. The ball ended up 4 feet from the cup. If that shot didn't quite clinch the victory for him, it did symbolize his dominance over the field, and the course.

Doeden turned pro right after that. He is now on the Mackenzie (Canadian) Tour, and on Sunday he tied for seventh in the Osprey Valley Open in Caledon, Ontario. That was worth $6,025 and moved him up from No. 23 on the Mackenzie Tour money list to No. 17. His primary goal this year is to finish in the top 5 on the list, which would earn him a promotion to the Korn Ferry (formerly the Web.com) Tour, and would put him only one step away from the PGA Tour.

Joel Johnson, unlike Doeden, is not a bomber. As a general rule, when he's asked about how far he hits his driver, his response is a self-deprcating chuckle. His success -- among other things, he's a former State Publinx Mid-Am champion -- has come as a result of his consistency and his ability to control a golf ball, not pure power. His skills are the ones that come in very handy at Mankato GC, a course that has become a lot tighter over the years. That's probably why so many of the big hitters have tended to struggle. But Johnson's not a short-hitter, either. He hits it far enough (somewhere in the 265 to 275 range), and he took advantage of the par-5's on the back nine at Mankato GC on Sunday, which enabled him to take control of the tournament.

Opsal and Alex Wallerich both shot 69 on Saturday and were the first-round leaders. Johnson, who was one behind at that point with a 70, pulled into a tie with Opsal for the lead by posting an even-par 35 on the back nine Sunday morning. Opsal regained sole possession of the lead briefly by starting the final round with a birdie at the 390-yard, par-4 first hole. Johnson responded with a birdie of his own at the 397-yard, par-4 second.

He followed that with seven pars in a row and had the lead when he made the turn. Basically, he won the tournament on the first three holes of the back nine, as he birdied the 506-yard, par-5 10th the 514-yard, par-5 11th and the 155-yard, par-5 12th. That little birdie spree gave him a five-stroke lead. 

Last year, Johnson surged into the lead in the middle of the final round, then doubled the 11th, bogeyed the 12th and also bogeyed the short (297-yard), par-4 15th and fell back into a tie for first place. He recovered by making a birdie at the 17th (while the co-leader, J.J. Svac, was in the process of making a bogey) and won by two shots. 

It never got quite that close this year, but Johnson added a hint of drama to the proceedings by throwing in a bogey and a double on the back nine. He pretty much sealed the deal when he hit a 9-iron to within 3 feet of the cup at the 145-yard, par-3 16th and made the putt for a birdie.

Opsal ended up with a 73 for the final round. Hanner shot 72. Pfingsen closed with a 70.

Jon Michel turned in a valedictory 71 to tie Tony Krogen for fifth place at 179. Krogen shot 73 Sunday afternoon. Leo Gellert was another stroke back, at 180, after a 72.

Besides Johnson, the only other player to break 70 in the final round was Kyle Viehl, who also shot 69. That moved him up into eighth place at 181.

The venerable Lloyd got better as the weekend wore on and shot a final-round 71, which got him into a three-way tie for 10th at 183. Another notable who saved his best for last was Dave Carothers, who won the State Amateur two years ago at the age of 48. (He ranks as the third-oldest player to win the State Am, behind only Jim Scheller, who was 52 when he won in 1991, and Joe Stansberry, who was 49 when he won in 2005.) Carothers closed with a 70 and finished one behind Lloyd in a tie for 14th at 184. 


MEN'S AMATEUR GOLF

Loren Krugel Invitational

At Mankato Golf Club


Final results 

1. Joel Johnson                70-35-69--174

T2. Mitch Pfingsten          72-36-70--178

T2. Jon Hanner                71-35-72--178

T2. Matt Opsal                 69-36-73--178

T5. Jon Michel                 71-37-71--179

T5. Tony Krogen             70-36-73--179

7. Leo Gellert                  71-37-72--180

8. Kyle Viehl                   74-38-69--181

9. Alex Wallerich             69-37-76--182

T10. J. B. Lloyd               75-37-71--183

T10. Matthew Newman   73-37-73--183

T10. Andrew Hoppe       72-40-71--183

T10. N. Bragg                 70-38-75--183

T14. Dave Carothers      76-38-70--184

T14. Blake Onkka           73-36-75--184

 

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