Wilson, Greve, Schmitz and Israelson Final Four Left at MGA Players' in Lake City

June 26, 2018 | 5 min.

 
 
By Nick Hunter
nick@mngolf.org
 
 
  LAKE CITY, Minn. – In the 40-year history of the Minnesota Golf Association Players’ Championship, just three players have captured back-to-back titles. Tom Lehman was the first to accomplish the task (1980-81). Steve Johnson claimed back-to-back wins in 1988 and 1989, and most recently, Terry O’Loughlin won in 1996 crown and successfully defended his title in 1997.
 
With four victories already this week and an impressive performance during the quarterfinals against Tyler Obermueller Tuesday at The Jewel Golf Club, Jacques Wilson is two wins away from becoming the fourth player to repeat as MGA Players’ champion.
 
Wilson cruised during the opening round Monday, beating Ravi Ramalingam, 7 and 6, before edging Trent Sundbom, 2 and 1, during Monday’s afternoon session. Playing 18 holes for the first time in nine rounds at the championship, Wilson ousted three-time MGA Mid-Players’ champion Troy Johnson, 1-up.
 
Perhaps Wilson’s most impressive performance to date came during Tuesday’s quarterfinal match against Obermueller when he carded seven birdies and an eagle in 13 holes to advance to the semifinals for the second consecutive year with a 6 and 5 victory.
 
“I’m not really sure how to describe that,” Wilson said of his match up against Obermueller. “I worked on my putting this morning and I got hot—I missed short putt on one, but after that, I made everything I looked at. I shot 29 on the front with an eagle on eight, which really helped the scorecard.
 
“Tyler played really well through five holes and any other time of the week, he’s going to be two-three-four up in a match. That’s match play—you get hot and try to ride it as long as you can.”
 
Obermueller carded three birdies and a bogey over the opening nine and somehow found himself down four with nine holes to play thanks to string of five straight birdies by Wilson and an eagle at the eighth, when he rolled in an 8-footer.
 
Wilson hit a 6-iron to 10 feet at the par-3 11th and converted his birdie opportunity to go up by five before Obermueller found trouble off the tee at the 12th, which led to a double-bogey, giving Wilson a 6-up advantage. When Obermueller’s long birdie chance at the 13th wouldn’t drop, he conceded Wilson’s 15-footer as the defending champ closed out the match with a 6 and 5 victory.
 
“I had the same mentality of trying to get up early and make these guys come get me and this morning [Johnson] came and got me. This afternoon I kept my foot on the gas and kept going,” Wilson said Tuesday. “I shot a 31 on the front against [Charlie Duensing in the semifinals] last year and he pushed me to 17. The biggest mistake I’ve done in the past is thinking too far ahead or getting comfortable when I’m up.
 
“Today it was the putter. Ball striking was just about as good as yesterday. I hit a couple in there close, but I made a lot of putts today, which was good to see after working on that this morning. The key thing for me last year was the putter and to get it rolling after really struggling with it yesterday was a really big confidence boost.”
 
Wilson will face two-time defending State Open champion Ben Greve during Wednesday’s semifinal round after Greve got past Noah Rasinski, 2 and 1, early Tuesday before holding on to defeat Michael Schmitz during the quarterfinals, 2 and 1.
 
Advancing to the semifinals of the MGA Players’ Championship for the first time in his impressive amateur career, Sammy Schmitz had little trouble getting past Andrew Dallas, 8 and 6, before ousting Matt Lutz, 4 and 2, during the quarterfinals Tuesday.
 
“I'm playing a little better the last couple of days and my driver has been pretty good to me. That’s been the key to the game this year—the driver’s been a little loose,” Schmitz said Tuesday. “I’m putting pretty well, but mostly staying out of trouble. I think I have one penalty stroke in four rounds, which is pretty good out here. You can make a lot of birdies, but you can lose a lot of balls, too.”
 
Schmitz made a miraculous birdie on the opening hole Tuesday against after finding the tall grass right of the first fairway. He recovered by sticking his approach inside of five feet and rolled in his birdie look to take a 1-up lead.
 
Taking advantage of bogeys by Lutz at the third and ninth holes, Schmitz managed a 3-up lead at the turn and would card six consecutive pars to start the back before closing out the match with a birdie at the 16th to earn the victory, 4 and 2.

“All around I feel pretty comfortable. I haven’t played par-5’s very well the last couple of years, but I’ve been playing them pretty well this week at the Jewel, which is a good sign,” Schmitz said. “I played steady and tried to get out of trouble. I only had one bogey for two rounds today.
 
“I’ll probably have to play less safe starting tomorrow, but typically as you get deeper, you’ve got to make more birdies.”
 
Making his deepest run at the event, his tenth appearance at the age of 37, Schmitz said he uses his match play experience from winning the 2015 U.S. Mid-Amateur Championship, as well as his other state victories as motivation.
 
“I was able to maintain my composure against Ben Frazzini—I was 2-up and he hit it in the left trees on 14 and I’m thinking his ball is probably lost. He found it and made par and I made bogey and he won the next hole. I was thinking I was going 3-up and the next thing I know we’re all square going to 16.
 
“I draw off wins in the past because I know you have to keep your composure and relax and play good golf. It doesn’t do any good to get too worked up out there.”
 
Schmitz will square off against Andrew Israelson during the semifinals Wednesday after Israelson bested Van Holmgren, 2-up, early Tuesday and then needed 21 holes to eliminate Parker Reddig during the quarterfinals.
 
The semifinal round of the 40th MGA Players’ Championship is slated to begin at 7:30 a.m. Wednesday at The Jewel Golf Club, with the final match scheduled for 12:30 p.m.
 
 

Contact Us

Contact Us

6550 York Avenue South, Suite 411 • Edina, MN 55435 • (952) 927-4643 • (800) 642-4405 • Fax: (952) 927-9642
© 2024 Minnesota Golf Association. All Rights Reserved