Jake and Matt Witham Take Slim Lead at MGA Four-Ball Championship With a 64 at Dellwood

By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  DELLWOOD, Minn. – After making the turn at 2-under par Wednesday at the 54th Minnesota Golf Association Amateur Four-Ball Championship at Dellwood Country Club, brothers Jake and Matt Witham rolled in six birdies over the final seven holes to charge into the lead, shooting 8-under par 64.

Defending champions Jesse Polk and Sammy Schmitz carded a 7-under par 65 Wednesday and will begin the final round one shot off the lead, while the team of Trent Peterson and J.T. Johnson sits tied for third at 6-under par 66 with the duo of Terry O’Laughlin and Andrew Layton after their opening round Wednesday.

As the first group teeing off Wednesday, Matt and Jake Witham, both of Keller Golf Club, carded three consecutive birdies beginning at the second hole to quickly dip to 3-under for the day.

The two had a slight setback at the par-4 sixth with a bogey but would turn at 2-under. Matt Witham dropped his birdie chance at the par-3 12th hole before brother, Jake, rattled off three consecutive birdies on Nos. 13, 14 and 15.

Both would card a birdie at the 17th before Matt sank one final birdie on the last hole as the two jumped into the lead at 64.

“Today was great, we putted well and hit it close and did all the things you’re supposed to do,” Matt Witham said following the round Wednesday. “[Jake] topped it on [No. 6] and I hit it in the weeds to the left and we made a bogey, but other than that, we played awesome. We probably could’ve had a couple more, quite frankly.

“We’ve been playing well coming into this and I knew we were going to play well today," Matt Witham said. "At the 12th hole, when we were 2-under I kept thinking, ‘If we make another birdie on our next hole, we’re off to the races, but if we bogey a hole, then it’s grind it out. That birdie got us in the right direction and then we birdied six of the last seven.”

Schmitz, Valleywood Golf Course, and Polk, Somerby Golf Club, opened last year’s championship with a 12-under par 60 at Pebble Creek Golf Club before firing a 65 on the final day to claim the trophy by four shots over the team of Aaron Barber and Andy Jacobson.

On Wednesday, Schmitz and Polk opened with three straight birdies to jump to 3-under before adding two more at the seventh and ninth holes to turn at 5-under.

The pair cooled a bit on the back nine as Polk rolled in a pair of birdies at Nos. 14 and 17 to put the defending champions in the clubhouse in second place, one shot off the lead at 65.

“We got off to a good start—everything was working but the par-5s,” commented Schmitz after he and Polk combined for five birdies on the front nine, but made par at both par-5s. “We didn’t have a lot of long putts. We didn’t have two birdie putts on a lot of holes and when we had one, they were pretty short so I thought our approach shots were pretty good.”

“[Sammy] was working,” Polk joked when asked what was working for his twosome on the front nine. “He birdied the first three then I birdied [Nos. 7 and 9]. We didn’t do anything special, but on the back nine, the biggest thing was when someone was out, the other guy was fine.”

Peterson and Johnson, both of Valleywood Golf Course, rolled in three birdies over the first six holes before dropping a shot at the par-3 seventh to fall back to 2-under.

A birdie at the eighth hole put Peterson and Johnson back to 3-under heading to the final nine holes.

Johnson dropped a 25-foot birdie at the 12th hole to get the two back to 3-under before Peterson drained his birdie from 40 feet on the ensuing hole to move the pair to 5-under.

Adding one final birdie at the par-5 17th, Peterson and Johnson finished their opening round at 66, just two shots off the lead going into Thursday’s final round.

O’Laughlin, the Links at Northfork, and Layton, Keller Golf Club, rolled in a pair of birdies during the opening nine Wednesday to turn at 2-under before adding another at the par-4 10th.

With back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th holes, O’Laughlin and Layton would get to 5-under for the championship before adding one last birdie at the 17th to earn a share of third place at 66 with 18 holes to play.

The final round of the 54th MGA Amateur Four-Ball Championship gets underway Thursday with split tee times beginning at 8:40 a.m. at Dellwood Country Club.