MGA Press Release

PILOT, BAKKEN SHARE MEDAL IN OPEN QUALIFYING

By Mike Fermoyle

Katie Bakken, a European professional tour player from Minnesota who would like to get back to the U.S. tour, and amateur Claudia Pilot both shot 75's Thursday at Windsong Farm to pace the local qualifying for the U.S. Women's Open.

Windsong played 6,525 yards, which made it the longest golf course ever played in competition by women in Minnesota.

The length didn't seem to bother Bakken, who made four birdies, three of them on the front nine, or Pilot, the six-time Minnesota women's player of the year.

"I was a little worried last week," Pilot said, "because we played the day after it rained, and there was no roll. I was hitting 3-wood into every green. Fortunately, the course has really dried out today, and the length wasn't really a problem."

Evidently, it wasn't a problem for Katie Detlefsen, either. She shot a 77 and tied Mari Miezwa for third place.

Detlefsen, a senior at Minnehaha Academy, is the prohibitive favorite to win the state Class A championship this year, and thus become the first player -- male or female -- to win four Minnesota state high school titles.

But she's only 5 feet, 3 inches tall, and the course she played Thursday was 1,000 yards longer than anything she's played on this spring in high school competition. There were at least two long par-4's -- the 424-yard first and the 409-yard 17th -- on the par-71 layout that played directly into the wind, and were equivalent of 500-yard par-4's for men.

 "I didn't mind," she said of the extra real estate she was dealing with. "I've played in quite a few AJGA (American Junior Golf Association) tournaments where the courses were 6,000 or 6,200 yards long. I've been doing strength training, and I'm getting a little longer. And besides, when I was younger and hit it shorter than I do now, I got used to having to chip and putt well in order to shoot a good score."

Terra Petsinger and Carolyn Barnett-Howe both shot 80's to tie for fifth and claim the final two places in the next stage of the Open qualifying.

If some of the players were a little anxious about the length of the course, they weren't alone.

Ede Rice, who ran the qualifying, set up the course to play over 6,500 yards because that's how long the actual Open course, Pine Needles Lodge & Golf Club in Southern Pines, N.C., is expected to be for the tournament (June 28-July 1).

She admitted, however, that she had a few second thoughts, and maybe an occasional third thought.

"I was nervous," she said. "I thought maybe I had made it too long. But I'd really like to thank the players for justifying my confidence in them."

Most of the Minnesota qualifiers will be at Glen Ellyn, Ill., (near Chicago) for the sectional stage, but Bakken, a 28-year-old who's been a pro for seven years, will make her attempt to earn her way into the Open for the second time at Rockville, Md.

 "I've made it once before," she noted. "In 2003. That was the year Hilary won. I didn't make the cut, but I had fun watching her win that tournament."  

Hilary is '03 U.S. Open champ Hilary Lunke, formerly Hilary Homeyer of Edina, who played against Bakken in high school (Bakken went to Champlin Park) and won a state Class AA title in 1997.

After high school, Bakken walked on at Minnesota, earned a scholarship, made the Academic all-Big Ten teams three times (1999, 2000 and '01), had several top-10 finishes in college tournaments and won the 2000 Peggy Kirk Bell Championship.

She also won the Minnesota Women's State Open in 2001 and got into a couple of LPGA events that year, before joining the Futures Tour in 2002. In 2004, she qualified for the European Tour.

"I've really enjoyed playing over there," she said Thursday. "But I've been there for four years now, and that's long enough. I'd like to get back here, and qualifying for the Open again would be a good way to start."

U.S. Open Local Qualifying

At Windsong Farm Golf Club

Par 71, 6,525 yards

Qualifiers

Claudia Pilot 37-38--75

Katie Bakken  37-38--75

Katie Detlefsen    35-40--77

Mari Miezwa  38-39--77

Terra Petsinger   40-40--77

Carolyn Barnett-Howe  38-42--80

Alternates

1. Lindsay Somrock 37-44--81

(won playoff with a bogey at No. 1)

2. Amy Schmucker  39-42--81

3. Carly Werwie   39-43--82

4. Julie Hennessey   38-44--82

Failed to advance

Holly Opatz  40-43--83

Angela Ausie  41-43--84

Kelli Berns  42-44--86

Dee Forsberg-Voss  39-47--86

Dana Ross-Arlt   43-44--87

Tracy Stanford  44-44--88

Pennepa Pulsawata  41-48--89

Kendra Hanson   43-46--89

Olivia Lansing 44-45--89

M. Rogers-Anderson  44-45--89

Adele Peterson 46-47--93

Carling Coffing  WD

Jill Hardy   WD

Brenda Williams  WD