A Birdie on the Final Hole Gives Fox Twin Cities Championship Victory at Dakota Pines

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By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org


  HASTINGS, Minn. – Entering the final round of the 26th Twin Cities Championship three shots back, Max Fox carded two birdies on his back nine before sinking a long birdie putt on the final hole to win his first state championship Sunday at Dakota Pines Golf Club.

Noah Lawson carried the lead for 35 holes after before taking a double-bogey on the final hole Sunday, while Fox hit his approach from the rough right of the fairway and drained his putt from 35 feet to complete the comeback.

“It’s nice to get a win—it means a lot, especially on my home course. This is seventh or eighth time playing in the tournament and had a couple close calls, but this is one that I’ve wanted for a while,” Fox said Sunday. “This is the first big win so it feels nice to get one in the win column.

“Going into the first round I knew I had to get a number out there to give myself a chance today—this is my home course. I’ve played here a bunch and knew if I could get myself around par coming into today would be a good spot,” he said.

Fox began the championship by carding a 1-over par 73 at Baker National Golf Club Saturday before the tournament shifted to Dakota Pines on Sunday.

“I had never played [Baker National] before and I think that kind of helped me,” he said. “It was like point and shoot—I didn’t know where not to hit it and didn’t get into my own head.”

Rolling in his 25-footer for birdie at the par-4 second, Fox got off to a hot start but stumbled shortly after, carding three consecutive bogeys to fall to 2-over for the championship and four shots back of Lawson.

“I know there are birdies out here to be had, but I had a tough streak—I bogeyed four, five and six, but birdied seven to come back and then made two good pars on eight and nine. I was really playing my own game and didn’t try to do anything too aggressive,” Fox said.

Lawson increased his lead over Fox to five after converting his eagle chance at the par-5 10th, while Fox rolled in his birdie chance from five feet. Lawson’s lead slipped to three after back-to-back bogeys at the 12th and 13th holes and clung to a one-shot lead after failing to get up-and-down for par at the par-3 15th.

Fox’s tee shot on the final hole clipped trees right of the tee box, but hoisted his 9-iron from 165 yards over the trees to the back side of the two-tiered 18th green with his second to set up his birdie chance 35 feet away.

Playing his approach from the left side of the fairway, Lawson’s approach landed on the front of the green with a long, uphill opportunity for birdie. Lawson would four-putt for double-bogey while Fox’s birdie earned him a two-stroke victory at 1-under par 143, shooting 2-under par 70 on the final day.

After graduating from Hastings High School, Fox played his collegiate golf at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Fla., earning a degree in Management in 2014 and now works as a financial advisor.

A highlight for Fox during the 2016 season came at the Minnesota Public Golf Association Public Links Championship where he finished tied for 10th at Loggers Trail Golf Course. In 2015 Fox posted his best result at the Twin Cities Championship with a fifth-place finish.

Fox will have home course advantage once again when Dakota Pines hosts the MPGA Public Links Championship August 19-20.

Entering Sunday’s final round with a two-shot lead over Devon Johnson, Lawson would finish the day with a 3-over par 75, two shots back of Fox at 145.

“It was just frustrating on the 18th hole—that’s really about it. I grinded all day,” an obviously dejected Lawson said after the final round Sunday. “Max putted great today, but I had a three-footer to force a playoff and missed it—pretty sad and frustrating.

“I struck the ball pretty well in the wind and grinded well all week, but I had a couple bad putts on the back nine in the last round. My plan was to come in a make a bunch of pars and make [Fox] beat me, which he ended up doing.”



26TH TWIN CITIES CHAMPIONSHIP
DAKOTA PINES GOLF CLUB
HASTINGS, MINN.
6,730 YARDS, PAR 72


FINAL RESULTS
1. Max Fox, 73-70—143
2. Noah Lawson, 70-75—145
3. Noah Bragg, 76-72—148
T4. Matt Wahl, 78-73—151
T4. Elton Mosman, 74-77—151
T6. Jack Koehler, 78-74—152
T6. Tim McKenney, 77-75—152
T6. Jamie Quesnel, 76-76—152
T6. Matt Rachey, 76-76—152
T6. Jacob Herdine, 75-77—152


For complete tournament results go to: www.ghintpp.com/mngolf/TPPOnlineScoring/ResultsStroke.aspx?id=1660