Dutoit, Welle Share Boys AAA Individual Title; Moorhead Gets Team Crown

COON RAPIDS -- Jon Dutoit got tired and "probably a little quick." Ben Welle just got careless.

Both had some problems at the end of the boys Class AAA portion of the state high school tournament  at Bunker Hills GC on Wednesday, but they still managed to finish under par and tie for the individual championship.

Dutoit was cruising through the back (West) nine, having just birdied the par-5 14th hole, when his swing started to malfunction. A bunker shot that nearly went in at the 15th made up for a pulled wedge, and he salvaged a par there, but the Chaska senior -- and University of Minnesota recruit -- couldn't save pars on any of the last three holes, and the result was a 1-over-par 73 that gave  him a two-day total of 142.

Welle, a senior from Moorhead, was two ahead when he came to the 18th hole (No. 9 West), and then he had a major lapse. He hit his tee shot into the trees, didn't get to the green until his fourth shot, and by the time he putted out, he had a double bogey 6. That meant a 72, which put him at 142. 

Afterward, he was asked what he was going through his head as he walked off the final green. "Were you thinking you might have just kicked away the tournament championship?"

"No," he said. "All I could think about was that last hole, what a mess I made of it, and how mad I was at myself for that."

Lakeville North sophomore Freddy Thomas didn't par the 18th, either, and his bogey did cost him a share of first place (the Minnesota State High School League does not playoff for first in individual or team competition). He pull-hooked his tee shot into the trees, had to chip out, and even though he still was able to shoot 69, it turned out to be one too many overall. He finished at 143, alone in third place.

Even though he didn't appear to be in contention Wednesday as the final round was beginning, after an opening 77, Max Rosenthal might have been feeling more pressure than anyone else, because for him the state tournament was like an audition. The Eden Prairie senior had been talking about a possible golf scholarship with Ohio State, and Buckeye officials told him they would get back to him -- after the state tournament.

Clearly, they wanted to see how he did.

He did very well, thank you. Making six birdies and one bogey, he put together the best round of the tournament, a 67 and tied for fourth at 144, along with Matt Rachey, a junior from Waconia.

"If that doesn't impress them, I can't imagine what would," said Eden Prairie coach Ty Armstrong, a former PGA Tour regular, referring to the Ohio State coaches who will be deciding on whether to offer Rosenthal a scholarship. 

Besides an impressive high school career, a very good senior season (he finished second against the strongest field to assemble in Minnesota this spring at the Tri-State Invitational) and a final state tournament round of 67, he has genetics on his side. His aunt is Jody Rosenthal, a former college All-Amercian, Women's British Amateur champion and a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour. (She was in Max's gallery on Wednesday.) 

Welle's efforts helped Moorhead win its first state team championship in golf. The Spuds, who had three players -- Welle, Bryant Buckellew and freshman Dane Sethre-Hofstad -- in the top 19 individually, led after the first day and sealed the victory by combining for a 297 on the second. Their 599 total  was good for a 14-stroke margin of victory over Minnetonka.

Because all the players on the teams that are competing in the state tournament play together, and those competing as individuals only are sequestered into another group that goes off first, it's rare to have more than two contenders for the individual title in the same group. But Dutoit's group on Wednesday was an exception to the rule.

Thomas, Rachey and Osseo senior Dalton Charboneau, who ended up sixth with a 146, were the other players in the foursome, and they were all in contention.

Dutoit said afterward that he had trouble hitting his irons right from the start of the state tournament, but he was able to minimize the damage.

"I just gave myself margin for error, hit to the center of most of the greens, got it up and down when I had to, hit one close occasionally and made a couple of putts," he said, demonstrating a pretty advanced sense of course management in the process.

Consequently, despite not being as sharp as usual with his irons, he was able to shoot a 69 on Tuesday in the first round, which put him in the lead, by one over Welle. His second round was progressing in more of less the same way, as he got through the front nine in even par and then birdied the two par-5's on the back nine -- the 11th and 14th -- to get to 2 under for the day and 5 under for the tournament.

After splitting the fairway with his tee shot a the 15th (No. 6 West), Dutoit showed the first hint of his swing coming undone when he pulled his wedge into the bunker left of the green. He made up for that mistake, however, with a gorgeous bunker shot to within inches of the cup. But he pulled his tee shot at the 16th into the trees -- not that far from the out of bounds stakes -- punched his next shot over the green and wound up two-putting from 20 feet for his bogey.

By then, the wind had become a factor (10 to 15 miles per hour), and Dutoit's tee shot at the 220-yard, par-3 17th drifted into the right bunker. He hit that bunker shot pretty well, but expected it to spin back from the slope behind the hole, and it didn't. The result was an 8-footer for par, which he missed.

Thomas was the only player in the foursome who didn't put his tee shot in the right bunker at the 17th. He hit a hybrid just short of the green and two-putted for his par, which kept him at  minus 2. So he was within one of Dutoit. But Thomas gambled off the 18th tee, trying to carry the fairway bunker (roughly 250 yards) into the wind, and the gamble didn't pay off. He pull hooked the shot, which hit a tree left of the bunker and dropped down next to the trunk.

Eventually, he had a 25-footer for the par that would have put him at 142. The putt came up 2 feet short.

Dutoit, who had to be a little sick of sand at this point, pulled another iron shot into a bunker at the 18th, and knocked the bunker shot over the grenn into the rough on the far side. The 2011 MGA Boys Junior champion wound up having to make a 3-footer for a one-putt bogey.

"The rounds were long, and I got tired," he conceded. "I had been holding my game together the whole tournament, but then on those last few holes, I kind of lost it. My tempo was probably a little quick, and I hit some ugly shots coming in. But I was happy with the way I managed my game and posted a decent score even though I wasn't striking it all that well."

Welle was playing an hour behind Dutoit's group, and the rumors were flying about how he was doing. Even after he finished, and his score was going up on the board, no one seemed to know what he had shot. Several people were reporting that he had won.

But his double bogey at the 18th dropped him back to minus 2, and into a tie with Dutoit.

"I don't mind tying," he said. "I'm just happy not to finish second again. I had six of those this spring, and that's enough."

Counting the state tournament, Welle also had four firsts this spring.       

                                                Minnesota State High School Golf Tournament

                                                At Bunker Hills Golf Course

                                                Par 72

                                                Coon Rapids

                                                Final results