Howling Winds Can't Shake DuToit from Tapemark Lead; Berry Fires 64

June 11, 2017 | 8 min.

By Mike Fermoyle (mikefermoyle@gmail.com) 

WEST ST. PAUL -- It is generally agreed that when winds reach 40 miles per hour, you can't play golf. That's when tournament rounds get postponed, even for the best players in the world. 

The conditions at Southview Country Club on Saturday during the second round of the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am weren't all that far from unplayable. Winds were consistently between 20 and 25 miles per hour, and gusting to 30 mph. And the heat -- temperatures in the mid to high 90's -- made players just that much more uncomfortable. 

It was the kind of day when you don't have to hit bad shots to make bogeys.

Despite the difficulties, Jon DuToit managed to post a 1-under-par 70, and that was good enough to retain the lead he established with an opening round of 63 on Friday. His 36-hole aggregate of 133 has the former University of Minnesota star two strokes clear of Burl Oaks head pro Brian Seiwert, who shot 68.

Ryan Helminen, the three-time Tapemark champ from Menasha, Wis., and Tim Brovold of Bunker Hills both shot 69's and are tied for third, three behind at 136.   

"I don't remember playing in as much wind as this ever," DuToit said afterward. "You just had to be patient and realize that par was a good score on any hole, even the par-5's."

Of course, birdies and eagles were even better, and for the second day in a row, DuToit had two birdies and an eagle on Southview's four par-5's. He started his round on the back nine and made four pars in a row, before suffering a bogey at the 14th (386 yards, par 4). But he got the lost stroke back with a birdie at the 490-yard, par-5 17th. 

The strong winds combined with the speed and slopes of the greens to make putting treacherous, and DuToit three-putted the greeen at No. 3 (374, par 4) for a bogey, missing his par putt from 2 1/2 feet. Undaunted, he came back with 315-yard tee shot at No. 4 (470, par 5), then hit a 9-iron to 15 feet and made the putt for an eagle. 

No. 5 is a 211-yard par-3 that was probably the hardest hole on the course Saturday. DuToit hit the green, roughly 30 feet away, with a 6-iron, but he misjudged the left-to-right slope of the green -- it looks basically flat but isn't --  and gunned his first putt 8 feet past. He missed the come-backer and slipped back to even par for the day. 

"You're going to make bogeys," he conceded. "You just have to be able to come back from them." 

Which he did once again at the sixth hole, with a drive of nearly 300 yards (uphill and into a cross wind) and a gorgeous 6-iron from 180 yards. The 23-year-old former Minnesota State Amateur and State Open champion burned the edge of the cup with his 10-foot eagle putt and tapped in for a birdie. He made one more bogey, at the 363-yard, par-4 eighth hole, but bounced back yet again with a birdie at the 331-yard, par-4 ninth. 

"I was just trying to get back into the clubhouse with whatever score I could," he admitted. 

DuToit has been a professional for about a half a year, with the ultimate goal of working his way up to the PGA Tour. He hasn't played in all that many tournaments yet, mainly because there aren't nearly as many mini-tour events as there used to be. Most of what used to be the largest of the mini-tours, such as the Hooters Tour and the Gateway, are long gone, and the internet is littered with the ghostly abandoned websites of smaller tours that no longer exist. 

"It's tough," he said. "You see a tournament, and it looks pretty good, but there might only be 12 guys who show up to play. So you have to choose carefully." 

The one tournament that he's played in Minnesota this year was the Minnesota Golf Champions at Dellwood CC in May, and he did well in that one, finishing tied for fifth and making $1,500. 

DuToit is 8 under for the eight par-5's he's played so far this weekend. But Seiwert has done even better on the par-5's. He made two eagles on Friday and is 9 under on the long holes for the two days. He made three birdies on the 5's Saturday, plus two birdies on par-4's, which compensated for the two bogeys he made in his 68.

"Anything under par today was a really good score," Helminen said. "You had to hit the ball really solidly to make it go where you wanted it to, and the some of the greens were almost unputtable. The pin on No. 1 was back left, and if you were on the wrong side of the cup, there was no way to stop the ball. And the green at No. 5 (which is elevated) was really hard to hit. If you landed short, the ball died on the front slope, and if you landed it on the green, with all that wind behind you, the ball would just bounce over the green."

The 42-year-old Helminen, who has been the Wisconsin PGA Player of the Year eight times in the 10 years he's been eligible to win it, has more than enough power to reach the par-5's at Southview, as he demonstrated while winning his Tapemark titles in 2010, 2013 and 2015, but he's only 3 under on the 5's this week. On the other hand, he's made only two bogeys in two days, the fewest by any player in the field, and that's why he's in contention. 

For most of the day Saturday, people were marvelling at the 66 that Jon Trasamar shot. It undoubtedly helped him to tee off at 6:30 a.m., before the winds got really nasty. But it turned out that the round of the day was produced by Don Berry, and he shot his 64 in the afternoon, when the conditions were the most difficult.

Berry, the longtime head pro at Edinburgh USA, won his fifth State Senior Open crown last week -- by nine strokes. That increased his record total of state championships to 39 (no one else has more than 27), but the seven-time Tapemark champ -- and 16-time Minnesota PGA Player of the Year -- appeared to shoot himself out of contention at Southview with a 74 on Friday. He got back in the race on Saturday, thanks in part to a pair of eagles. The first came at the par-5 sixth, but he also holed a wedge shot from the fairway for an eagle 2 at the 389-yard, par-4 11th. 

Although he's still five strokes behind, at 138, there's a lot of white space on the leaderboard, and there are only five players ahead of him. 

Berry will start his final round from the first tee at 12:10 p.m. Most of the other contenders will go off the 10th tee between 12 and 12:30.

The Women's Division will go off No. 10 from 11:20 a.m. to 11:50.    


MINNESOTA PROFESSIONAL GOLF

Tapemark Charity Pro-Am

At Southview Country Club

Par 71, 6,121 yards

Second-round results

Professionals 


1. Jon DuToit, Chaska Town Course             63-70--133

2. Brian Seiwert, Burl Oaks, GC                   67-68--135

T3. Tim Brovold, Bunker Hills                       67-69--136

T3. Ryan Helminen, Ridgeway CC (Wis.)    67-69--136

5. Ross Miller, Dellwood CC                         65-72--137

T6. Don Berry, Edinburgh USA                     74-64--138

T6. Jeff Sorenson, Minikahda                       70-68--138

T6. Eddie Wynne, Bolstad/University           66-72--138

T6. Mitchell Homb, Unattached                    68-70--138

T10. Robert Bell, Pierz                                 67-72--139

T10. Chris Meyer, Southview CC                 68-71--139

T10. Jon Reigstad, Keller GC                      69-70--139

T10. Brent Snyder, Troy Burne                    68-71--139

T10. Jon Trasamar, Unattached                  73-66--139

T15. Eric Rolland, Augsburg College          71-69--140

16. Brandon Sletmoen, Fargo CC               70-71--141

T16. Josh Whalen, Elk River                        72-69--141


Amateur leaders

1. Ryan Gallagher, Chomonix GC                 68-76--144

2. Andy Paulson, Oak Glen                          72-73--145

T3. Scott Fenwick, Southview                      73-74--147

T3. Mark Thompson, Southview CC            69-78--147

5. Tony Vincelli, Unattached                        72-79--151


Team leaders

1. Homb, Hapka, Lesch, Glass                   -43

2. Seiwert, Traeger, Grove, Jones              -41

3. Reigstad, Kinsel, Dahl, Neska                -39
 

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