Dallas Hangs on For First State Victory at MGA Senior Amateur

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  EDINA, Minn. – Playing a limited amount of tournament golf over the past three seasons due to surgeries on both his wrist and his thumb, Andrew Dallas said his nerves were present from his opening tee shot this week at Edina Country Club, until his final putt Wednesday afternoon.

Dallas bounced back from an early double-bogey and fended off both Matt Yeager and three-time champion Leif Carlson by sinking a six-foot par putt on his final hole to win the 103rd Minnesota Golf Association Senior Amateur Championship.

“I would say I had some nerves all 54 holes,” said Dallas, who collected his first tournament victory Wednesday since his junior golf days in Southern California. “I could feel it in my legs and my stomach.

“This is my first real tournament win. I’ve played golf since I was 10, so to win at 64 is like a cherry on top and I actually did something with the game. I’ve accomplished something and I’ll have my name on [the trophy] for the rest of my life.”

Entering Wednesday's final round with a two-stroke advantage, Dallas got up-and-down at the first by rolling in an eight-foot putt for par, but would take his second double-bogey of the championship at the par-4 second to share the lead with Carlson at 1-over.

Following a bogey at the par-5 10th, Dallas carded his only birdie of the final round at the par-4 12th, rolling in his chance from inside of 10 feet before narrowly avoiding disaster, finding the penalty area at the par-5 13th, coming away with bogey to sit at 2-over and one shot back of the lead.

A bogey at the par-4 16th put Dallas at 3-over for the championship, but he would manage a one-stroke lead heading to the final hole.

Over the 18th green in two, Dallas chipped to six feet and sank his par putt to claim a one-stroke victory over Yeager at 3-over 219.

“Today I was just trying to keep it out of trouble and I figured I’d probably have to shoot around even,” Dallas said. “My short game is always pretty solid, so I thought I could play a lot of shots to where I could get up-and-down. I wasn’t too worried about having to hit too many greens.

“That’s a typical Andrew Dallas round: up-and-down, up-and-down, up-and-down. A little bit of a struggle early—I wasn’t hitting my irons that well, but my driver was really good today compared to what it had been the first two days.”

Opening the championship with a round of 75 Monday, Dallas carded a tournament-low this week with his 4-under 68 Tuesday to take the 36-hole lead.

His previous best finish at a state championship came in 2018 when he advanced to the Round of 16 at the MGA Players’ Championship at The Jewel Golf Club.

Yeager, winner of two MGA Senior Amateur Four-Ball and one MGA Amateur Four-Ball Championships, began his final round five shots off the lead and narrowed Dallas’ margin with a birdie at the first to get to 3-over for the championship.

Recording his only double-bogey of the championship at the third, Yeager would convert three birdie chances over his final six holes of the front nine to pull within one shot of Dallas’ lead at 2-over.

The 59-year-old Yeager remained tied with Dallas through 14 holes before back-to-back bogeys at the 15th and 16th proved costly. Closing out his final round with par at each of his final two holes, Yeager would post a final-round 72 to finish one shot back of Dallas at 4-over 220 for his second top-10 finish at the championship.

“This was a tough test, and I played good golf,” Yeager said Wednesday. “I’ve been playing well and had some confidence rolling. For three days I played outstanding.

“There are so many good players—so many good seniors, that wherever I finish, I have to be happy with that. I had my chances and knew I had to make a run, and I did.”

Leif Carlson, a three-time winner who entered the final round two shots back of Dallas, held the lead multiple times during the final round before a string of bogeys and a double-bogey on his final hole put the 71-year-old in third place at 6-over 222.

Carlson won the 2008 championship at Woodhill Country Club and claimed his second win at the event two seasons later at The Minikahda Club.

Most recently, Carlson earned a three-stroke victory at the 2020 championship at Burl Oaks Golf Club for the 12th state victory of his career.