AAA Girls Finish a Little Flawed, But Kuenster, Neisen & Deeg Put on a Great Show

COON RAPIDS -- The size of the galleries for the Class AAA part of the state high school golf tournament at Bunker Hills GC can usually be judged by the difficulty of finding a parking place. On Wednesday morning, the difficulty was at least a 9 on a scale of 1 to 10, as Bunker Prairie Road filled up quickly, and spectators were forced to go farther and farther down 127th Ave. NW just to find an open spot. 

It made for a long walk back to the clubhouse. But that was OK, because the show that Celia Kuenster, McKenzie Neisen and Cassie Deeg put on in the final round of the AAA girls competiton was well worth the extra effort. 

Kuenster, a sophomore from Cretin-Derham Hall, is basically a Division I college golfer with a birth certificate that says "1996" and therefore has two years of high school eligibility remaining. But she doesn't play like a high school kid. She probably had the best short game of anyone in the AAA girls field, and she almost certainly had the best course-management skills.  

Hitting drives that averaged over 260 yards throughout her round, she put on a remarkable display of power and precision, and came storming down the stretch with three birdies on the last four holes of the back (West) nine as she shot a 4-under-par 69. That gave her a record 36-hole score of 141 and, as it turned out, a two-stroke victory. This was the second state championship for Kuenster -- so far. 

Neisen was no less impressive, and even better from tee to green. But the New Prague sophomore made a couple of early mistakes -- and a fatal one at the end. After making consecutive birdies at the par-5 14th and par-5 15th holes, and narrowly missing her birdie putts at the 16th and 17th holes, Neisen blasted a 255-yard drive into the wind and carried the fairway bunker on the 18th hole (No. 9 West), but then she hit a wedge shot about 3 feet too far. It wasn't realy a bad shot. It just ended up in the wrong place, and it led to a concluding double bogey that cost her a share of medalist honors. 

She wound up with a 74, which gave her an aggregate of 143. The 143 tied the old AAA girls record that was set in 2010 by Maggie Leland of Alexandria.

Deeg, who was playing the last round of a distinguished career at Stillwater -- she will be playing for the University of Nebraska in the fall -- shot a valedictory 72, which gave her a 147. Until two years ago, when Leland shot her 143, 147 had stood as the large-school scoring record for 32 years. Deeg's 147 was also one stroke better than her total last year, when she tied Kuenster for the individual championship. 

"Last year, I tied for first. This year I shot a lower score -- and I lost to Celia by six," Deeg marvelled. "This was an unbelievable tournament. I certainly didn't expect scores this low."

Kuenster, Neisen and Deeg were sort of in their own little tournament, because no one else was close. Elk River's Sadie Martin came back from an opening 80 with a 74 on Wednesday, and she finished fourth with a 154. Shakopee junior Alex Schmid was another stroke back at 155, alone in fifth, after a second-round 75. 

Neisen's finish had a depressingly familiar feel to it. Last year, thinking she needed a birdie to tie for first -- when in fact she needed only a par -- she was overly aggressive with her second shot at 18, knocked it over the green and made a double.

At least she had the consolation of leading New Prague to its second state team championship in three years. The Trojans led by four over Red Wing after Day 1, and they ended up winning by eight over Stillwater with a cumulative 661. Wayzata was one behind Stillwater in third with a 670, and Red Wing,  the favorite, had to settle for fourth with a 673.

"When the season began, I thought we had a legitimate chance to win another team championship," said New Prague coach Matt Shetka, who might be the only coach ever to lead teams to state titles in the two disparate sports of golf and gymnastics. "But Red Wing and Wayzata were so good in the regular season that I started to wonder.

"I guess I didn't have as much faith in our girls as I should have. But we played Red Wing eight times, and they beat us all eight. We never beat Wayzata, either, until this week."

Because Neisen and Deeg were playing with their teams at the state tournament, and Kuenster, she was about four holes ahead of the other two contenders for the individual crown.

The reigning State Women's Amateur champ was 2 under after nine, but she gave one stroke back when she bogeyed the par-3 12th hole (No. 3 West). At the 440-yard, par-5 14th, she was in position to hit the green in two after a nearly perfect drive, but she pushed her second shot, hit a tree with her third and bounced into the front bunker. It was a long blast (a shot that even PGA and LPGA tour players don't like), but she got it to 5 feet and made the putt.

Although the par for girls at Bunker Hills is listed as 73, it really isn't for players like Kuenster. It's a par 72 for her, because the 400-yard par-5 15th is just a drive and a wedge. That's what it was on Wednesday, and she made an easy two-putt birdie.

She made another birdie at the 16th, which put her one ahead of Neisen at the time.

"But I thought I probably needed another birdie," Kuenster said, "because I was pretty sure that McKenzie would birdie the par-5's (the14th and 15th holes)."

Before she could get her last birdie, Kuenster had to save a par from the left bunker at the 180-yard 17th, which she did by hitting a blast to a foot.

At the 18th, she hit a less-than-stellar lay-up, but it got the job done, leaving her with a 144-yard second shot. She hit a 7-iron to 10 feet and made the putt to get to 5 under for the tournament.  

Neisen, who started the day with a three-shot lead, didn't keep it very long. She bogeyed the first hole (No. 1 East) and doubled the second. But she battled back, and when she did birdie the two par-5's on the back nine -- the 14th and 15th -- as Kuenster assumed she would, it got her to 1 under for the round. Her drive at the 14th was about a yard inside of where Kuenster had been, and her second shot was as good as the first, giving her a 15-foot putt for eagle. She missed, but tapped in for birdie. At the 15th, she, like Kuenster, hit a 270-yard drive and a pitching wedge to the green. This time she had a 20-footer for eagle, and she nearly made it.

She had an easy two-putt for par at the 16th and burned the edge of the cup again at the 17th, from about 25 feet. When she made her short putt for par there she was still 5 under for the tournament, tied with Kuenster. She didn't know it at the time, because nobody told her, but she suspected she needed a par at the 18th to tie for the championship. 

Her drive at the last hole was perfect, but her wedge shot landed just beyond pin high on a firm green and trickled just beyond the fringe about a foot into the rough. She didn't catch the chip from there altogether cleanly, and was faced with a 12-foot par putt down a deceivingly dangerous slope. She missed the par putt left of the hole and went 4 feet past, then missed the one coming back.

Deeg, who shot 38 on the front (East) nine, was 3 under on the back, capping her round off with a birdie at the 18th. It was a birdie that Neisen could have used, although she would have gladly settled for a par.

In the end, Kuenster won because of her short game. Over the last five holes, she needed only six putts, whereas Neisen needed 11. 

The finish was painful even for Kuenster, who had to wait around an hour after she signed her scorecard. Standing around by the scoreboard made her too nervous; so she went out to watch Neisen and Deeg complete their rounds. 

"That was hard," she admitted. "I really had mixed emotions. I wanted to win, obviously. But McKenzie and I are good friends, and she played so well that I kind of wanted it to end in a tie. It was confusing. I guess I didn't know what to think."   

                                      Minnesota State High School Tournament

                                      At Bunker Hills Golf Course

                                      Par 73, 5,809 yards

                                      Coon Rapids

                                       Final results