Meyer Maximizes Distance, Minimizes Mistakes to Win Tapemark

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WEST ST. PAUL -- Like an uninvited guest, the wind showed up at Southview Country Club on Sunday for the final round of the Tapemark Minnesota PGA Pro-Am. This was not a gentle breeze, like the one that was blowing for most of the day on Friday, or even the 10-miles-per-hour kind of wind that made club selection tricky Saturday afternoon. It was more like the hang-on-to-your-hat kind that causes problems even for the best golfers.  

"I heard this morning on the radio that there were going to be gusts up to 37 miles per hour," Chris Meyer said afterward. "I don't think there were many of those, but it was 15 to 20 miles per hour for most of the afternoon."

As a consequence, pars were coveted, birdies were hard to come by, and scores were on the high side.

The main goal for players at or near the top of the leaderboard wasn't so much to attack pins, but rather to avoid mistakes, and Meyer, who began the day with the lead, did just that. He made only one bogey, the result of a three-putt, and produced the second-lowest score of the day, a 2-under-par 69. That gave him a 54-hole total of 201 -- and a four-stroke victory. 

Ross Miller, who won the Tapemark each of the last two years, was the main challenger, but his putter would not cooperate. Needing 19 putts on his final nine holes, he had to settle for a 72 and a second-place finish at 205.

The only professional other than Meyer to break 70 was three-time Tapemark champion Ryan Helminen. He shot 65 and moved up 13 spots, from 16th into a tie for third with Derek Holmes at 207. 

Jeff Sorenson, also a former champion, closed with a 72 and finished at 208, good for fifth place. Don Berry, a seven-time Tapemark winner, also posted a 72 and was part of a three-way tie for sixth at 210, along with Matt Rachey and Josh Whalen. Whalen shot 70, and Rachey 71. 

There was one other 69 on Sunday, and it was turned in by 16-year-old Bella McCauley, who won the Amateur Division with a three-day aggregate of 209 (4 under). The highlight of her round was an eagle 2 at the 14th hole, where she dunked her 8-iron approach from 112 yards "on two hops." McCauley, a Southview member who is just beginning her junior year of high school, won the Class AAA championship by 10 strokes at the 2019 state high school tournament. Earlier this summer, she won the MGA Junior Girls Championship by five strokes. Her younger sister Reese (a ninth-grader) was the runner-up.

Finishing second among the amateurs was another Southview member, 14-year-old Sam Udovich, who finished second in the National Drive, Chip and Putt Finals at Augusta National two years ago. The St. Croix Lutheran eighth-grader opened with a 66 and followed that with a 74 and 75 for an overall 215.

Jasi Acharya, the 2019 MGA Women's Player of the Year who won her second State Mid-Amateur Championship three weeks ago, closed with a 72 on Sunday and finished third at 217. 

The team championship went to the foursome of Sorenson, Bob Gorg, Gary Locke and John Daniels. They combined to be 56 under par. Savannah Smith, Cindy Irwin, Janelle Darling and Teri Boutin were second at minus 54. 

It was basically a Southview Sweep over the weekend, as far as the individual titles were concerned, because Meyer is also a member of the host club. 

"I live in Dallas now," he said, "but I spend a lot of time up here in the summer. And I play Southview about 15 times a year."

Meyer, a 30-year-old University of Wisconsin alumnus, has played on the PGA Tour LatinoAmerica in recent years, and he also has partial status on the European Challenge Tour this year. But Covid 19 has wrought havoc with his 2020 tournament schedule. He's played in a few Korn Ferry Monday qualifiers, but has gotten into only three multi-day tournaments. 

"The year has been a disaster," he lamented, "but this (winning) really helps."

His first-place check was $5,000. 

Meyer has finished in the top 10 five times at the Tapemark, and led one time after 18 holes. But this was the first time he's taken a lead into the final day. 

It is a Tapemark tradition (this was the 49th Tapemark tournament) that the leaders start their Sunday rounds on the 10th hole. Even by modern standards, Meyer is a massively long hitter, and he demonstrated his power by launching a 375-yard drive at the 389-yard, par-4 11th. It was playing downwind. Nevertheless, it was a monstrous drive that left him with a simple chip/pitch, and he had a tap-in for his birdie.

Meyer was a fairways-and-greens machine in Round 3, and he made five pars in a row before overpowering the 490-yard, par-5 17th with another garganuan drive and a wedge second shot, which resulted in a two-putt birdie. He had a pitching wedge into the par-5 18th (480 yards), as well, but missed the green and made a par.

Miller, 28, started the day one behind Meyer, but the combination of Meyer's birdie at No. 11 and his bogey at No. 12, put him three back.

After winning his second Tapemark last September, Miller made it easily through the First and Second stages of Korn Ferry Q-School. He didn't play well enough in the Final Stage to gain full status for this year's Korn Ferry Tour, but he has partial status and has played in three events. His average drive, according to the Korn Ferry stats, is 297.4 yards, and he has made a lot of birdies on the par-5's at Southview during the last four Tapemark tournaments. (He tied for fourth in 2017.)

On Sunday, he failed to match Meyer's birdie at the 17th, but he did birdie the 18th and went across the road to the front nine still trailing by three. 

Meyer blasted another conspicuously long drive at the 355-yard first hole, and was pin high to the right of the green in 1. But then he got a little sloppy. He failed to allow for enough break with his pitch to the green, which has a lot of slope from back to front -- and he followed that up by three-putting from 25 feet.

"That was my only real mistake of the round," he said. 

Playing one group ahead of Meyer, Miller made an even more glaring error on the green at the third, a 375-yard par 4. After pounding a 325-yard drive and a nifty little 50-yard pitch to 5 feet. He ran his birdie putt 3 feet past and missed the par putt coming back.

Miller then missed a 6-footer for birdie at the par-5 fourth hole (470 yards). A few minutes later, Meyer missed his birdie putt from 8 feet.

So the gap between them remained at three.

At the 476-yard, par-5 sixth, Miller hit a 7-iron to 5 feet -- but missed the eagle putt. Meyer hit an 8-iron  second shot into the front bunker at No. 6. From there, he hit 70-foot blast to 6 feet and converted the birdie putt.

Miller had to be a little frustrated as he played the last three holes, and that probably explains why he thinned a wedge shot at the par-4 eighth. It was the only green he missed on the front nine, and the bogey that he made there expanded Meyer's lead to where it ended up -- four shots.    



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Tapemark Minnesota PGA Pro-Am

At Southview Country Club

Par 71

West St. Paul

Final results

Professionals

1. Chris Meyer, Southview CC            $5,000      64-68-69--201

2. Ross Miller, Medina G&CC             $3,000      64-69-72--205

T3. Derek Holmes, PXG Mpls.            $1,750      67-69-71--207

T3. Ryan Helminen, Ridgeway GC     $1,750      70-72-65--207

5. Jeff Sorenson, Minikahda Club       $1,000       66-70-72--208

T6. Don Berry, Edinburgh USA              $750        71-67-72--210

T6. Matt Rachey, Bolstad/University     $750         67-72-71--210

T6. Josh Whalen, Elk River GC            $750         71-69-70--210

T9. Sam Matthew, North Oaks CC        $475         67-70-74--211

T9. Eddie Wynne, Bolstad/University    $475          72-68-71--211

T11. Eric Rolland, Augsburg Univ.         $338          70-69-73--212

T11. Cameron White, PXG Mpls.          $338           72-68-72--212

13. Brian Hills, 2nd Swing                     $275           70-69-74--213

T14. Brent Snyder, Troy Burne GC       $230            70-70-74--214

T14. Kyle Scanlon, Northfield GC         $230            71-71-72--214

Senior Division

1. Don Berry, Edinburgh USA               $300            71-67-72--210

Women's Division

1. Lisa Grimes, Alexandria GC              $300             77-72-73--222

Amateurs

1. Bella McCauley, Southview  CC        73-67-69--209

2. Sam Udovich, Southview CC             66-74-75--214

3. Jasi Acharya, Interlachen CC             74-71-72--217

4. Mike Tschida, Chisago Lakes GC      75-67-76--218

5. Scott Fenwick, Southview CC            76-72-71--219


Teams

1. Jeff Sorenson/Bob Gorg/Gary Locke/John Daniels               $625        -56

2. Savannah Smith/Cindy Irwin/Janelle Darling/Teri Boutin      $450         -54