Benson and Peterson Head to Final Round of MGA Four-Ball Tied with Johnson and Onkka

August 17, 2022 | 4 min.
By Nick Hunter

  LE SUEUR, Minn. – Stringing together five consecutive birdies mid-round Wednesday at Le Sueur Country Club, Brett Benson and Trent Peterson combined to post a bogey-free 7-under 63 to earn a share of the lead at the 61st Minnesota Golf Association Amateur Four-Ball Championship.

Benson and Peterson will begin Thursday’s final round tied with Joel B. Johnson and Blake Onkka, who posted a 63 during Day One of the competition Tuesday.

“The chances we had, we made for the most part today,” Peterson said Wednesday. “[Brett] made a couple of long ones, but we kind of stumbled in, I guess. Never in trouble for bogey all day, but didn’t convert some opportunities those last five holes.”

Beginning their round at the 10th Wednesday, Benson and Peterson started the scoring with a birdie at the 12th before a five-birdie streak beginning at the 15th to quickly jump up the leaderboard to 6-under.

Peterson converted his birdie chance at the par-4 fourth, but the two squandered multiple birdie chances over the final five holes to finish their first round in a share of the lead at 7-under 63.

“If we can keep making putts, we’ll be good,” Peterson said. “The greens are small, so if you can hit the green, you’ll have a look. You have to keep it in play and make the opportunities you have.”

“We just need to finish the round tomorrow,” Benson added.

A win Thursday would give Peterson his third win of the season and first MGA Amateur Four-Ball title since 2007, winning with partner Cory Blenkush at Hastings Country Club.

A four-time MGA Player of the Year, Peterson extended his streak to 10 straight seasons with at least one state victory with his win at the Minnesota Public Golf Association Mid Public Links Championship at Cannon Golf Club June 19.

The following week Peterson cruised to victory at the 93rd Lakeland Golf Championship at Eagle Creek Golf Club.

Benson, 35, from Olivia Golf Club, is looking for his first state title since he won the Class A individual title to cap off his junior season at Jackson County Central High School.

Lurking one shot off the lead thanks to a 6-under 64 Wednesday is the team of Jesse Polk and recent Minnesota Golf Hall of Fame inductee Sammy Schmitz.

Polk and Schmitz battled back from a bogey on the opening hole by carding five birdies over their next eight holes to turn in 4-under for the championship.

Similar to how the round began, the twosome would card bogey at the par-3 10th to fall to 3-under, but would get back on track when Schmitz dropped his eagle putt from 30 feet at the 16th.

Dialing in his birdie opportunity from eight feet at the last, Polk put him and Schmitz into the clubhouse one shot off the lead with a 6-under 64.

“Our putting was pretty good—that’s what stands out as far as what we did well today,” Schmitz said Wednesday. “We got hot after making the bogey. We didn’t mess anything up on the greens.”

“Tomorrow we just need to play golf and not have to make putts,” Polk said. “I didn’t hit the ball very well. I’ve played here a bunch and you can get lucky sometimes or get yourself in some predicaments. We bogeyed one and bogeyed 10—those were our two hiccups.”

Polk and Schmitz, no strangers to team titles, won the 2014 championship at Pebble Creek Golf Club, as well as a pair of wins at the MPGA Four-Ball Championship (2016, 2018).

In 2016, the two also claimed victory at the Mid-Amateur Division of the International Four-Ball Championship at The Fox Club in Palm City, Fla.

More recently, Polk teamed up with Mike Fiedler to win back-to-back MPGA Four-Ball Championships in 2020 and 2021.

Also carding a 6-under 64 Wednesday to finish their opening round tied for second was the team of University of St. Thomas golfers Matt Armstrong and Cole Nasby.

Armstrong and Nasby carded three birdies during their opening nine Wednesday, including back-to-back birdies at the eighth and ninth to turn in 3-under.

Taking advantage of the par-5 12th, Armstrong rolled in his birdie opportunity to help his team move to 4-under before Nasby countered with his birdie at the par-3 14th.

A final birdie at the 16th would put the Tommie teammates in a tie for second with 18 holes to play Thursday.

The pairing of Bryan Francis and Daniel Niemi posted a 5-under 65 Wednesday and will start the final round two shots off the lead.

The final round of the 61st MGA Amateur Four-Ball Championship is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m. Thursday at Le Sueur Country Club.

 

Nick Hunter

Nick Hunter got his start covering sports for the Mankato Free Press while attending Minnesota State University, Mankato. 

He then contributed to several online outlets, including Bleacher Report, prior to turning his focus to golf.

Hunter enters his 11th season covering golf in Minnesota as news editor for the MGA website. He resides in New Prague with his wife and two sons.

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