Miller Makes It 2 Tapemarks in a Row with a Sunday 63

September 22, 2019 | 11 min.


By Mike Fermoyle (mikefermoyle@gmail.com)

For the first 37 years of its existance, the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am was played at Southview Country Club in early June. But this spring, after what Twin Cities golf course superintendents probably thought of as The Ultimate Winter of Our Discontent, Southview was one of the myriad area courses with greens that were in desperate need of repair. It started the golf season as an 11-hole, par-43 links, with two temporary greens. By the time that the Tapemark would normally have been played, June 7-9, all 18 holes were open, but there were seven temporaries.

Not exactly what you'd call a great championship test. So the Minnesota Section PGA moved the tournament to late September.

It was worth the wait. The same three pros who went into a playoff for first place at the 2018 tournament -- Ross Miller, Don Berry and Robert Bell -- finished in the top three spots again this year, and they put on a sensational show as they came down the stretch in Sunday's final round. 

Berry, who has won the Tapemark seven times, played well enough to win again. Having held sole possion of the lead after each of the first two rounds (67-67), the 57-year-old head pro at Edinburgh USA was tied for first with seven holes to go, and he played them in 3 under par.

That would normally be good enough to win -- except that in this case Miller, the defending champion, played those last seven holes in 4 under on his way to a final-round 63 (8 under) and a one-stroke victory. He concluded 54 holes with a total of 199 (14 under). The victory was worth $5,125.

Berry shot 66, which gave him an aggregate of 200. That would have won or tied for first in eight of the last 10 Tapemarks, but this year it was one too many. (The only times 200 wouldn't have won  or tied for first were 2009, when Jeff Sorenson set the tournament record of 197, and 2014, when Berry tied the record.)

As for Bell, 29, he began the day three behind Berry, and after his first 12 holes (the leaders all started on the back nine Sunday), he was 2 under. At that point, he trailed both Berry and Miller by three shots. But Bell then proceeded to make a two-putt birdie at the 470-yard, par-5 fourth hole -- and followed that with a hole in one at the 204-yard, par-3 fifth. (He hit a 5-iron.) He nearly made a second consecutive eagle at the 476-yard, par-5 sixth, where he hit that same 5-iron to 4 1/2 feet, but missed the putt for a 3. The former Minnesota state high school champion -- and MGA Junior Player of the Year -- wasn't done yet. He hit a 2-iron off the tee at the 371-yard, par-4 seventh hole, a 9-iron to 5 feet and made the birdie putt from there.

So for that four-hole stretch (Nos. 4 through 7), Bell was 5 under. He shot 64 and finished at 201, which gave him sole possession of third place. 

"I was just trying to make it a little more interesting for Ross," he joked afterward. 

Over the last seven holes Sunday, Miller, Berry and Bell were a combined 12 under.

Sorenson closed with a 66 and claimed fourth with a cumulative 204. Brent Snyder shot 69, putting him at 206, and that was good for fifth.

This was actually the fifth time that Miller, 27, has won at Southview in the last 15 months. Last year, in addition his victory in the Tapemark, he was a co-medalist at the Southview Shootout in August with a 64, and also won the five-hole shootout (the top six finishers from stroke play go into the shootout, and one is eliminated each hole). The 2019 Southview Shootout was last week, and Miller was the sole medalist  with a 64.

"But I didn't win the shootout this time," he said Sunday, almost apologetically.

Miller also won the Minnesota Golf Champions last year. That tournament is next weekend, but he won't be defending his crown. Instead, he will be preparing for the First Stage of the Korn Ferry Q-School, which begins Oct. 1 at various sites. He will be playing at Arbor Links in Nebraska City, Neb. Bell will also be playing in one of the First Stage Q-School tournaments. He will be at Dayton Valley GC in Dayton, Nevada, (Oct. 8-11).

There are four stages of Q-School, a Pre-Qualifying, then First, Second and the Final Stage. Last year, Miller failed to get through the Pre-Qualifying. It was the only bad tournament he played all summer, and as he says, "It couldn't have come at a worse time." This year, the former Minnesota State (Mankato) star made it through Pre-Qualifying comfortably, tying for ninth at Wilderness Ridge in Lincoln, Neb. In all, 41 players advanced from there. 

"I've changed my attitude toward those (qualifying) tournaments," he said. "I used to just try to qualify. But if you do that, you're aiming too low. Now I want to win the qualifying. When you think that way, you might finish 10th and be a little disappointed about not winning. But you still make it through easily."

On Sunday, Miller had no intention of doing anything but winning, and he succeeded. The Southview course, which was in pretty rough shape in May and June, was in nearly perfect condition for the Tapemark, and so was Miller's game. He hit 13 of 13 fairways and 17 greens in regulation in the final round, missing only the green at the par-3 15th hole by 2 feet. And on a cool fall day in a rainy year -- so players weren't getting much roll on their tee shots -- he averaged roughly 290 yards with his driver. 

Playing one group ahead of Berry, and two behind Bell, Miller made it around the back nine in 31 (4 under), which put him into a tie with Berry. Berry regained the lead when he hit a wedge to 3 feet and made the putt on the third hole (374 yards, par 4), but Miller cranked out a 325-yard drive at the par-5 fourth and hit a wedge to 20 feet. From there he two-putted for a birdie, which meant that he and Berry were tied once again, at 11 under par.

Berry's drive down the hill at the fourth was 290 yards, which left him 182 yards from the pin, but he had an awkward lie to deal with.

"It was a downhill lie, and I thought that if I hit a 5-iron from there, it would probably skip over the green," he explained. "So I hit the 6 instead, and that was the wrong club."

The 6-iron shot came up a few feet short of the green and kicked right into a bunker. Berry nearly holed his blast from there. The ball trickled 4 feet past the cup -- but he missed the birdie putt. 

"I missed two putts of less than 5 feet in each of the three rounds," he lamented. "Today I missed that one, and another at 16, which I three-putted. I've been hitting the ball really well since the State Open (July 19-21), but my putting is suspect." 

Up ahead, Miller had hit a 5-iron to within 3 feet at the par-3 fifth. A minute after Berry missed his birdie putt at No. 4, Miller made his at No. 5. -- and took the lead for good.

Miller made his third birdie in a row at the par-5 sixth, where his 4-iron from 210 yards into the wind came up just short of the green, but he chipped to 18 inches. Berry's 5-wood from 220 yards also came up short, by 15 yards, but he pitched to 4 feet and matched Miller's birdie. He was still a stroke behind, however.

Both Miller and Berry had tantalizing birdie chances at the par-4 eighth (363 yards) from nearly the same spot, slightly above and behind the hole. Miller had a 14-footer and left it 6 inches short. Berry had a 10-footer and left it a half-inch short. 

"I couldn't believe I left it short," he said.

"It's kind of a scary putt," Miller noted. "It's downhill, and it slides away to the right. So you don't want to be too aggressive, because it can get away from you. It's just not quite as fast as you think it is." 

Every year, on the last day of the tournament, Tapemark officials move the tee markers at No. 9 up from the usual distance of 330 yards to 279, in the hope of setting up a dramatic finish. With water just to the left of the fairway 20 yards in front of the elevated green, and out of bounds to the right, there is considerable risk, but the reward is a drivable green and a potential eagle putt. 

Unfortunately, no one who was actually in contention to win has taken the gamble since Dave Tentis drove the green and won the tournament with a final-hole birdie in 1998. 

That changed this year. From the tee, Berry's group could see Miller on the green. He had hit a 6-iron off the tee and a 60-degree wedge to 7 feet. He made the birdie putt, which meant that he had finished at 14 under par. Berry, who was 12 under -- and tied with Bell -- needed an eagle to tie Miller.  

Berry didn't really have a choice. He had to try to drive the green. That was the only realistic chance he had to make an eagle. There was a long wait, while the Miller group putted out. Finally, the green was clear and Berry could hit. His tee shot started at the left side of the green and held that line. It carried nearly far enough, but came up just short of the top of the hill in front of the green, and trickled back down the hill, about 15 yards.

"You could see the mark where the ball landed," Berry said. "It just needed about another 4 or 5 feet, and it would have been on the green."

Instead, he was left him a pitch shot of roughly 90 feet. He made a good attempt, but came up 6 feet short. From there, he made the putt, thereby breaking the tie with Bell and taking sole possession of second place.

In the Women's Division, which has been shortened from 36 holes to 18, Lisa Grimes won with a 68. The winner of Minnesota's first state girls golf tournament in 1977 (under her maiden name: Lisa Kluver), Grimes has gone on to win the State Women's Open three times. And now she has three victories at Southview in the eight years that there has been a Tapemark Women's Division.

Angie Ause and Savannah Stone tied for second with 72's.    


Tapemark Charity Pro-Am 

At Southview Country Club

Par 71

West St. Paul

Final results 


1. Ross Miller, Medina                                        68-68-63--199

2. Don Berry, Edinburgh USA                              67-67-66--200

3. Robert Bell, Pierz                                            71-66-64--201

4. Jeff Sorenson, Minikahda                                68-70-66--204

5. Brent Snyder, Troy Burne                               70-67-69--206

6. Eric Chiles, Chaska                                        69-72-67--208

T7. Grant Shafranski, North Oaks                      72-70-67--209

T7. Jonathan Reigstad, Keller                            72-70-67--209

T7. Alex Kline, Troy Burne                                  70-70-69--209

T7. Brian Seiwert, Burl Oaks                              74-67-68--209

11. Luke Benoit, Interlachen                              73-67-70--210

T12. Ryan Brockhaus (A), Brackett's Crossing  74-65-72--211

T12. Scott McDonald, Minnewaska                    74-68-67--211


Women's Division

1. Lisa Grimes, Alexandria                                 68

T2. Angie Ause, Oak Marsh                               72

T2. Savannah Stone, Braemar                          72

4. Carolyn Barnett-Howe                                   77

T5. Kristi Meyer, Rochester                               80

T5. Kate Drimel, Wexford                                  80

7. Lori Money, Deer Run                                   81
 

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