Rain Halts Assault on Par & Shortens Tapemark; Doeden Is Apparent Winner

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WEST ST. PAUL -- Mike Zinni set the tournament -- and course -- record of 9-under-par 62 at Southview Country Club in 1985 on his way to winning the Tapemark Minnesota PGA Pro-Am. It was 27 years before anyone matched that 62, and like Zinni, Craig  Brischke shot his 62 in the process of winning the Tapemark in 2012.

Last year, Angus Flanagan broke the record, shooting a 61 in the final round of the tournament. The former University of Minnesota star from Woking, England, made nine 3s and two 4s -- both on par 5s -- in his first 11 holes, as he came from six strokes behind to win the Tapemark, by three shots, for the second year in a row.

This time, it took only one year for someone to equal the record.

On Saturday, Van Holmgren made eight birdies and an eagle on his way to a 61. But he won't have a chance to win the 2023 Tapemark, and neither will Flanagan, who is one closer to the  lead after two rounds this year than he was last year. In addition to Holmgren's 61, there was a 62 by the tournament leader, Justin Doeden, and a 63 by Andrew Israelson. But an afternoon rain storm brought the assault on par to a halt. Most of the players who started their rounds in the afternoon were still on their first nine when the rain came, and they never got back onto the course.

As a result, the tournament has been shortened to 36 holes. Round 2 will resume at 11 a.m., and when it's over, that will be it. Considering that Doeden is at 127 after 36 holes -- that's 15 under, yet another record -- and that no one who still has golf to play is any closer to him than nine strokes, it would appear that he has the Tapemark trophy pretty much locked up.  

This is something of a week off for Doeden, who is another former Gopher star. The 28-year-old from Lakeville South is making the transition from the PGA Tour LatinoAmerica, where he made $16,457 in 10 events this spring, to the PGA Tour Canada, which will begin its 10-tournament 2023 schedule on Thursday at the Royal Beach Victoria Open in Victoria, B.C. But it will turn out to be a profitable week off for Doeden. The first prize for the Tapemark is $5,500. 

Like Doeden, Holmgren, 24, spent the summer of 2022 playing on the PGA Tour Canada, which provides a path to the Korn Ferry Tour, which in turn, is the gateway to the PGA Tour. But the 6-foot-8-inch former Minnesota State Amateur champion (he's the tallest State Am champ, and also the tallest player ever to compete on the Canadian Tour) finished 62nd on the points list in Canada last year, and only the top 60 retain fully exempt status. So he's without a tour to play on this summer. That's frustrating, and so is what happened to him this weekend. After his 61 on Saturday, he was at 129, which would have been leading the Tapemark after two rounds in almost any other year. This year, it had him two behind Doeden, Even so, that would be a good position to be in going into Sunday's third round -- but this year, there won't be a third round.  

For Doeden and Holmgren, the tournament is over. The consolation for Holmgren is that he'll get $3,500 for his efforts.

The tournament is also over for Flanagan and Israelson, Flanagan followed a first-round 67 with a 65 on Saturday, and he's tied with Israelson for third at 132. 

It's another four shots back to fifth place. Derek Stendahl shot 66 and is at 136. That's 6 under, and that's also where former Tapemark champ Jeff Sorenson (2009) is. But he was on the seventh hole when play was halted on Saturday. He shot 67 on Friday and was 2 under through six on Saturday. So he's 6 under through 24 holes and has 12 holes left to play -- meaning that he would need to go 9 under in those 12 holes to tie Doeden. The same goes for Robert Bell, who lost the 2018 Tapemark to Ross Miller in a playoff. He's also at 6 under -- a 5-under 66 on Friday and 1 under on Saturday -- except that he's on the back nine, and Sorenson's on the front side. The difference is that Bell still has all four of Southview's par 5s left to play -- Nos. 17, 18, 4 and 6. Sorenson has only two par 5s left -- 17 and 18.

When Saturday's round began, Joe Honsa, a sophomore at Cretin-Derham High School, was tied wtih Doeden for first. He shot 70 and is still leading the Amateur Division at 135, but there are now four pros ahead of him, plus Sorenson and Bell in position to pass him. Honsa's CDH teammate Sam Udovich is second among the amateurs at 137, after a 68. 

Although he wasn't the one who tied the records, Doeden had a spectacular run of 13 holes on Saturday. Starting on the back nine, he parred the 10th, 11th and 12th holes -- and then took off. He birdied the par-3 13th, par-4 14th, parred the 15th and then closed out the back nine with three consecutive birdies at the 436-yard, par-4 16th, the 488-yard, par-5 17th and the 475-yard, par-5 18th. And he wasn't done. Moving over to the front nine, he birdied the par-4 first and the par-3 second -- his sixth and seventh birdies in a span of eight holes.

As if to catch his breath, or maybe demonstrate that he was still human, Doeden bogeyed the 356-yard, par-4 third hole. But he bounced back from that with three birdies in the next four holes, the two par 5s on the front nine -- No. 4 and No. 6 -- and he made his 10th birdie in 13 holes at the 367-yard, par-4 seventh.  

And. then. there was Holmgren and his 61. His sub-par binge wasn't quite as concentrated, but he did manage to go 5 under on each nine. He parred the first two holes, then played the next four in 4 under, with birdies at the third and fourth, plus an eagle at the 486-yard, par-5 sixth. He capped off the front nine with a birdie at the par-4 ninth. On the back nine, he birdied two par 4s in a row (Nos. 11 and 12) and a par 3 (15), before taking advantatge of the two valedictory par 5s, the 17th and 18th, to cap off the 61. It probably should have been a 60, because he missed a 4-foot birdie putt at the 142-yard, par-3 13th.

"That's a tough green," he lamented afterward. "There's so much slope, and I have a hard time getting myself to start a putt that short outside the cup, but that's what I would have had to do to make that putt." 

In his two rounds at Southview this year, Holmgren was 10 under par for the eight par 5s. 

The 63 by Israelson was the second in his last five tournament rounds at the Tapemark.. Last year, he opened the tournament with a 63, but then spent the rest of the weekend hitting iron shots over greens -- mostly by 1 foot, and that's where the rough is the nastiest at Southview -- and ended up tied for eighth. This year, he opened with a 69 before shooting the 63, which followed a familiar pattern. He birdied all four of the par 5s, and threw in another four birdies on par 4s.     


Tapemark Minnesota PGA Pro-Am

At Southview Country Club

Par 71, 6,062 yards

West St. Paul

Interupted second-round results

Professionals 

1. Justin Doeden                      65-62--127 (-15)

2. Van Holmgren                      68-61--129

T3. Angus Flanagan                67-65--132

T3. Andrew Israelson             69-63--132

T5. Derek Stendahl                70-66--136

T5. Jeff Sorenson                     67-DNF (-6 through 24 holes)

T5. Robert Bell                         66-DNF (-6 through 24 holes)

T8. Grant Shafranski              71-68--139

T8. Ryan Helminen                 69-70--139

T10. Andy Smith                     68-72--140

T10. Ross Miller.                     70-DNF (-2 through 27 holes)

T10. Chris Meyer                    71-DNF (-2 through 22 holes) 

T10. Christopher Sauer.           69-DNF (-2 through 26 holes)

T14. Don Berry                      71-70--141

T14. Joshua Baldus.                71-DNF (-1 through 20 holes)             


Amateurs

1. Joe Honsa                       65-70--135

2. Sam Udovich                   69-68--137

3. Justin Burelson               71-71--142

T4. Alex Robb                     71-73--144

T4. Cecil Belisle.                   73-DNF (+2 through 21 holes)