Berry's Debut in State Senior Open Turns into Another Victory

EDINA -- When Don Berry arrived at Edina Country Club on Monday to play in the first round of the Minnesota Senior Open, he had the feeling that, suddenly, everyone was looking at him.

"It was weird," he said. "I've never had that happen before."

The 14-time Minnesota PGA Player of the Year was the object of so much attention, in part, because he's dominated the Minnesota golf landscape for the last two decades, but also because this was his first time playing against the seniors. He turned 50 in February.

So Berry came into the Senior Open as the New Kid in Town, and basically a co-favorite with Edina CC member John Harris, a 10-year veteran of the Champions Tour.

And when the proceedings concluded on Tuesday afternoon, Berry was in a familiar situation, standing in front of the clubhouse -- holding the first-place trophy.

His chances didn't look all that great when he bogeyed the 14th hole, slipped back to 3 under for the tournament and fell three strokes behind the leader, Joe Stansberry. But Berry managed to par the last four holes on a brutally difficult Edina layout, including a characteristically nifty up-and-down from the bunker short of the 18th green. That gave him a 2-under 70 and a 36-hole total of 141, which turned out to be good enough for a one-stroke victory -- and $1,300.

The happy ending for Berry required a bit of misfortune for Stansberry, the European Senior Tour irregular (he has only partial status) whose 68 on Monday had given him the first-round lead. On Tuesday, he was 2 under for the day, 6 under for the tournament and seemingly on cruise control, after making four birdies in a span of six holes in the middle of the round -- 8, 9, 12, 13. But he heard some noise from the gallery in the middle of his swing on his second shot at the par-4 15th hole, left a wedge shot short of the front bunker and ended up having to make a 15-foot putt for his bogey.

Once you were on the bogey train at Edina this week, it was hard to get off. Stansberry stayed on it for the rest of the round, bogeying the last four holes for a 74, which gave him an aggregate of 142, and second place.

"I didn't hit that many bad shots, but I made four bogeys in a row," he said, repeating a phrase that was uttered a lot during the last two days. "I hit two really good shots at 16 made a bogey (the result of a three-putt). On 17, I hit my tee shot into in the left bunker. So I was dead there. Then on 18 (465 yards, par 4), I hit a great drive (down the left side to get the best angle into the green), but it caught right on the seem between the fairway and the rough. All I had left was an 8-iron, but the heel of the club got caught in the longer grass, and I yanked it left of the the green. My chip wasn't that great, and the par putt was worse."

It is another measure of how tough Edina was on Tuesday that despite the four-bogey finish, Stansberry's 74 was the fifth-best score of the day.

"I know that Joe wasn't very happy about the finish," Berry said. "But he played some great golf, and I expect that he'll probably get me next time."

Another victim of the closing holes was John Robinson, the Florida pro with friends up here who shot the week's only other sub-70 round, a 69 on Day 1.  He got off to a shaky start on Tuesday, making a double bogey on the first hole. He also doubled the par-3 seventh, but he righted the ship and was 2 under for the tournament with three holes to go. From there, he went 4 over on the last 3 -- double-bogey-bogey -- for a 77 and a 146, which was still good enough for third place.

Mendakota head pro Dale Jones was one of the very few players -- maybe the only one -- besides Berry to make pars on each of the final four holes, and the result was the second-best score of the day, a 71, which put him a 147 and in sole possession of fourth place. 

Harris, who will turn 60 next week (June 13), also had his round spoiled by the last three holes, in exactly the same way as Robinson. Double, bogey, bogey. That turned a prospective 69 into a 73 and dropped him to fifth place with a 149.

Jones, like Berry, is a senior rookie, having just turned 50. They were both part of Minnesota's greatest high school class, the Class of 1980, along with Chris Perry, Dave Tentis and Tom Dolby. Which means that this is almost certainly the strongest group of 50-year-olds ever to come into Minnesota senior golf, especially when you add Tanners Brook pro Craig Brischke, who is from Wisconsin, to the mix. 

Brischke played the back nine better than anyone else on Tuesday, with four birdies to more than offset two bogeys, as he closed with a 73 and tied Mike Barge, the teaching pro from Hazeltine National, for sixth place at 150. Barge had a second-round 74. 

After he accepted yet another championship trophy, Berry, who has won 20 Minnesota professional major titles playing against the younger guys, said he couldn't wait to get back his home course -- he's the head pro at Edinburgh USA, which is considered one of the state's toughest tests -- "and some soft greens."

But the very, very firm greens at Edina probably worked to Berry's advantage. It was difficult to get an iron shot to stop on them throughout the Senior Open, and it was virtually impossible to land on a green and stop a shot from the rough. Berry is almost never in the rough.

He got the first of his three birdies in Round 2 at the 137-yard, par-3 fourth hole, where he hit a 9-iron to 8 feet (to get the ball to stop that close required him to land his tee shot within 5 feet of the front bunker). At the par-5 eighth, he pulled his tee shot and couldn't go for the green in two, but was able to hit a wedge to 15 feet and make the birdie putt.

Stansberry birdied the eighth, as well, and he followed that with a birdie at the short but treacherous, par-4 ninth. ("I hit four great shots there, on my way to a 7," was one player's description of how he made his triple bogey.)  Berry hit a 5-wood second shot to the front fringe at the 540-yard, par-5 10th and two-putted for a birdie, thereby pulling even with Stansberry at minus 4 for the tournament.

Once again, however, Stansberry put his new driver -- and the extra 15 yards he says it gives him -- to good use, making birdies at the consecutive par-5's, 12 and 13. Berry then grabbed the wrong club as he headed back for the 14th tee.

"I thought about hitting driver," he explained, "but I decided to hit a 3-wood off the tee."

Instead of the 3-wood, though, he pulled the 5-wood out of his bag. By the time, he noticed the mistake, his caddy, Bill Wiberg, and the bag were too far away, he thought, to be recalled.

"So I just hit the 5-wood," he lamented, "and I pulled it into the trees on the left. I hit a great second shot from there," but he couldn't save his par.

Suddenly, Stansberry had a three-stroke lead. But then his nightmare began.

Ultimately, it came down to the 18th hole and a kind of short-game contest. Stansberry, after his 8-iron snagged in the grass and he pulled his second shot, was 5 yards left of the green, roughly pin high, probably 95 feet from the hole. Berry, whose 6-iron second shot had bounced right and hopped into the bunker 5 yards short and just right of the green, was about 85 feet.

Stansberry's pitch didn't slide to the right nearly as much as he expected, and went a little long, leaving him an 18-footer for his par.

Berry, who could very well be the state's best bunker player, hit s gorgeous sand shot, flying the ball about 60 feet. It skipped a couple of times, then grabbed but didn't stop dead, and trickled to within 4 feet of the cup.

"I never expected to hit anything but a good shot from there," Berry said later. "If you put me in a bunker, I think I can hold my own with just about anyone. That shot turned out almost exactly the way I thought it would."

Stansberry didn't come close on his par putt. It stopped 18 inches short. Berry's 4-footer went into the middle of the cup, and he had his first senior title.   

                              Minnesota Senior Open

                              At Edina Country Club

                               Par 72, 6,650 yards

                               Final results (for complete results and hole-by-hole scoring, go to the Minnesota Section PGA website: http://mnpga.bluegolf.com) 

 1    Don Berry (p)            Edinburgh USA           71-70--141 -3  $1,300.00
 2    Joe Stansberry (p)       European Senior Tour    68-74--142 -2  $950.00
 3    John Robinson (p)        Chaska TC               69-77--146 +2  $800.00
 4    Dale Jones (p)           Mendakota CC            76-71--147 +3  $650.00
 5    John Harris (p)          Edina CC                76-73--149 +5  $550.00
 T6   Craig Brischke (p)       Tanners Brook GC        77-73--150 +6  $412.50
 T6   Mike Barge (p)           Hazeltine National GC   76-74--150 +6  $412.50
 T8   Bill Israelson (p)       Vintage GC              79-73--152 +8  $275.00
 T8   Brad Schmierer (p)       Hastings CC             76-76--152 +8  $275.00
 T8   Pat Vincelli (a)         Brackett's Crossing CC  75-77--152 +8  
 T11  Larry Barnacle (a)       Loggers Trail GC        79-75--154 +10 
 T11  George Smith (p)         Dick's Sporting Goods   78-76--154 +10 $187.50
 T11  Mark Peterson (p)        Brackett's Crossing CC  73-81--154 +10 $187.50
 T14  Steve Hjortness (a)      Eastwood GC             79-76--155 +11 
 T14  James Lehman (a)         Windsong Farm GC        77-78--155 +11 
 T14  Jon Empanger (a)         Island View GC          76-79--155 +11 
 T14  Gary Johnson (a)         Island View GC          72-83--155 +11 
 T18  Matt Vandelac (p)        Tartan Park GC          81-75--156 +12 $160.00
 T18  Leif Carlson (a)         Hastings CC             80-76--156 +12 
 T18  Greg Murphy (a)          Keller GC               78-78--156 +12 
 T21  Tim Laudner (a)          Edinburgh USA           81-76--157 +13 
 T21  David Kokesh (a)         Bent Creek GC           82-75--157 +13 
 T21  Mike Fermoyle (a)        Hastings CC             81-76--157 +13 
 T21  Mark Follmer (a)         Baker National GC       83-74--157 +13 
 T21  David Whittaker (a)      Northland CC            79-78--157 +13 
 T26  Mark Hayes (a)           Keller GC               81-77--158 +14 
 T26  Bob Miller (p)           Rich Spring GC          80-78--158 +14 $145.00
 T26  Don Howe (a)             Olympic Hills GC        78-80--158 +14 
 T29  Hank Wilkinson (a)       The Minikahda Club      81-78--159 +15 
 T29  Bill Brask (p)           Edina CC                83-76--159 +15 
 T29  David Steingart (a)      Edina CC                80-79--159 +15 
 T29  Bob Anderson (a)         Bent Creek GC           81-78--159 +15 
 T29  Thomas Vizina (p)        Oaks GC                 80-79--159 +15 
 T29  Craig Hanson (a)         Windsong Farm GC        80-79--159 +15 
 T29  Jonathan Swanson (p)     Purple Hawk CC          79-80--159 +15 
 T29  David Rehfeldt (a)       StoneRidge GC           75-84--