Peters Leads AA Boys Tournament Shooting a 69; Staples-Motley Tries to Hold Off Detroit Lakes

By Nick Hunter
nhunter23@hotmail.com

  JORDAN, Minn. – The Detroit Lakes boys golf team is in search of its third consecutive Class AA state championship and there are just two things standing in the way, a young and talented Staples-Motley team and a 5-stroke deficit going into Wednesday’s final round at Ridges at Sand Creek.

Delano senior Jordan Peters shot the low round of the day to top the leader board carding a 3-under par 69, while junior Matt Bennett, Marshall, finished tied for second after the first round shooting a 1-under par 71.

Freshman Andrew Israelson shot an opening round 71 and stands tied for second place to lead the way for Staples-Motley followed by Mitch Hagenson’s even par 72 and Trent Hagenson’s 2-over par 74.

“I got through the first three holes which is crucial for my game because it tells me what kind of round I’ll have. I made three birdies in a row on 5, 6 and 7 and I started hitting the ball better after that,” Israelson said. “On the back I continued to play well; I had a bad hole on 14. Unfortunately I went into the woods off the tee and made double bogey there.”

“I putted good, and my driver was better than I hoped,” he said, and when asked what it will take to take down the two-time defending champion Israelson said, “I’m going to try to play another good round. I’d be happy finishing in the Top 10 tomorrow. Hopefully our other guys can too.”

Mitch Hagenson’s first round 72 puts him in a tie for fourth place going into the final round Wednesday.

“I played a solid round today. I hit a lot of greens in regulation so I didn’t have to depend on my putter; I had a lot of two-putt pars,” Hagenson said. “I hit a lot of approach shots to within 15 feet which was the difference.”

Hagenson started 1-over through three holes but turned things around with a string of birdies heading into the turn. He would slip just a bit to start the final nine holes but continued to play consistent golf and finished strong to grind an even par 72.

“I thought our guys played excellent today, I’m very happy with our performance,” Staples-Motley head coach Glen Hasselberg said after Tuesday’s opening round. “All of our guys stepped up and played well. You need five or six guys to play well because depth wins tournaments.”

“Hopefully we can back it up with another round tomorrow, but you never know what can happen. The conditions could change; the course could change so you really don’t know. We just need to go out and play our game and see what happens,” Hasselberg said.

Defending champion Detroit Lakes was led by seniors Austin Rusness and Karter Smith each shooting a 2-over par 74 as the Lakers shot a team score of 299. Sophomores Christian Hedstrom and Ben Mallow rounded out the scoring shooting 1-over and 2-over, respectively.

Lakers head coach Bob Gordon was content with his team’s performance Tuesday and didn’t seem at all concerned about coming from behind to win.

“We’ll take the 299; I think that’s the lowest we’ve ever been here on the first day so I’m happy with that. We had a couple of guys that didn’t play as well as we hoped but we had two sophomores that have never been here that had good rounds today,” Gordon said.

“That’s the way our team has been all season. We have six guys that take turns scoring for us and everyone has been low at some point this year. Our philosophy is to play our game. We can’t get caught up thinking about Staples or anyone else; we’ll play one hole at a time and stick to that,” Gordon said.

In 2012, Detroit Lakes held a 3-stroke lead in team competition and held on to win its second state title in a row.

Tee times will start at 7:30 a.m. for the individual competition Wednesday while team tee times will start at 8:15 a.m.

RIDGES AT SAND CREEK
JORDAN, MINN.
PAR 72, 6,553 YARDS

FIRST ROUND RESULTS

TEAM
1. Staples-Motley—294
2. Detroit Lakes—299
3. Litchfield—304
4. Marshall—311
5. Hermantown—312
6. Blake—315
7. Rochester Lourdes—318
8. New Ulm—321

INDIVIDUAL
1. Jordan Peters, Sr., Delano—69
T2. Matt Bennett, Jr., Marshall—71
T2. Andrew Israelson, 9th, Staples-Motley—71
T4. Mitch Hagenson, Sr., Staples-Motley—72
T4. Josh Kummerfeldt, Jr., Waseca—72
T4. Aaron Leintz, Sr., Bagley—72
T4. Lucas McCormick, Jr., Breck—72
T8. Levi Soydara, Jr., Fergus Falls—73
T8. Trent Sundbom, Jr., Hermantown—73
T10. Josh Becks, Sr., Hermantown—74
T10. Trent Hagenson, Sr., Staples-Motley—74
T10. Austin Rusness, Sr., Detroit Lakes—74
T10. Karter Smith, Sr., Detroit Lakes—74

For complete results go to: http://www.mshsl.org/mshsl/golfscores.asp?gender=Boys&class=AA