Stewart and Tylke Tie Tournament Record with 60 to Open MGA Mixed Team Championship in Chaska

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By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org


  CHASKA, Minn. – Posting the lowest score since Cassie Deeg and Dominic Kieffer’s final round in 2014, Alexandra Stewart and Max Tylke fired a 12-under par 60 Monday at Chaska Town Course to tie the tournament record and open the 27th Minnesota Golf Association Mixed Amateur Team Championship with a four-stroke advantage.

Starting on the 10th tee Monday, Stewart and Tylke combined for four birdies over their opening nine before playing their back at 8-under par, carding four birdies and an eagle over the final five holes to jump to the top of the leaderboard after the first day of competition.

“We didn’t start off as well as we would’ve liked,” Stewart said after the first round Monday. “It was a solid first nine, but things really heated up on our back nine.”

“I struggled off the start and we had two pars—[No. 11] could’ve been a bogey but made a 40-footer on 12. I was trying to lag it up to be honest but drilled it in and we were off and it kick started everything,” Tylke said.

Stewart and Tylke strung together three consecutive birdies beginning at the 14th and would turn at 4-under for the championship. Tylke took advantage of good looks on the greens from the other players in his group, sinking a 12-footer at the 14th and converting birdie again at 15, before Stewart rolled in her birdie chance from six feet at the 16th.

“I was fortunate to get a perfect read and made two putts back-to-back,” Tylke said, “The putter was heating up at that point and that’s when the round started to get going.”

Starting their final nine with birdies at the first and third holes, Stewart and Tylke played the final five holes at 6-under par, highlighted by an eagle at the seventh where Stewart holed her bunker shot.

“The putts started dropping—everything, no matter who was in play, was inside of 10 feet and most of the time we had two looks at it,” Tylke said of the 28 he and Stewart recorded on their back nine Monday. “There was only one hole that we weren’t both putting for birdie—it was almost two birdie looks on every hole. It was smooth sailing and no scrambling for par.”

The format changes from four-ball stroke play during the opening round to a modified Chapman alternate shot stroke play format for the second round Tuesday.

“We didn’t know it was a change—we’ve never done it and it’s going to be different," Tylke said. "There’s going to be a lot more strategy and we’ll have to know what the other person is thinking. We’ll have to have a little more team cohesion.”

The pairing of Samantha Sommers and Bryan Fleegel will play in a foursome along with Stewart and Tylke for the second consecutive round after Sommers and Fleegel carded an 8-under par 64 during the opening round Monday.

Starting on the 10th tee Monday, Sommers rolled a 40-footer for birdie to get her and Fleegel going at the 13th hole to get her team started before back-to-back short birdie looks at the 15th and 16th quickly put the two at 3-under for the round.

Fleegel converted birdie from 10 feet at the par-4 first hole and after Sommers’ birdie at the second, the two were cruising at 5-under. Fleegel put his tee shot to 10 feet at the par-3 sixth hole and would card two short birdies at the seventh and ninth to put him and Sommers into second place after the opening round, four shots back of Stewart and Tylke.

“We thought we did pretty well but we played with [Stewart and Tylke], so they ended up doing a little bit better,” Fleegel joked following the first round Monday. “It was a little bit of a slow start but got into a groove and started to get a little more comfortable with each other. This is the first team event that we’ve ever played together, but we were able to get some birdies to start falling.”

Sommers and Fleegel agreed that playing fundamental golf during the final round will be crucial considering the format change and unfamiliarity with each other’s games.

“The par-3’s tomorrow is going to be big—finding the green and having two looks at it,” Sommers said of the format change for the final round.

“Just getting the ball in the fairway tomorrow is going to be big, too,” Fleegel added.

Emily and Andrew Israelson, the brother and sister combo who finished second in 2015, fired an opening-round 65, helped by five birdies over their final nine holes and will begin the final round five shots back in third place.

The father and daughter combination of Larry and Kari Opatz carded a round of 6-under par 66 to begin the final round Tuesday in fourth place, while the husband and wife team of Jordan and Justine Hawkinson sit in fifth place at 67 with 18 holes to play.

The 27th MGA Mixed Amateur Team Championship concludes Tuesday, with final-round tee times beginning at 8 a.m. at Chaska Town Course.