Birdwell (the Younger Brother) Leads State Junior Boys by 2

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HUTCHINSON -- He hasn't started his sophomore year at Spring Lake Park High School yet, and he doesn't hit his driver 350 yards, at least not yet (he hits it something more like 300 to 310), and he hasn't won a state high school championship yet. So at least for a while, Chase Birdwell will have to live with the designation: Jake Birdwell's younger brother.   

But he is making a name for himself. He played well enough this spring to be No. 4 in the Minnesota State High School Rankings at the end of the season, and after a less-than-great first round of 75 at the state tournament, he came back with a 4-under-par 68 in the second round at Bunker Hills. It equaled the low round of the day (shot by AAA champion Torger Ohe of Edina), and it earned him a share of fifth place in the large-school class. The player he tied was the defending champion, his brother.

On Monday, the younger Birdwell put together an eventful back-nine 34 at Crow River Golf Club (four birdies, three pars, two bogeys), which gave him a 2-under 69 for the first round of the Minnesota State Junior Boys Championship, and that has him leading the tournament one third of the way to the finish line. He is two shots ahead, but there are 19 players within four strokes of him going into Tuesday's second round. There are four players tied for second place at 71, including state Class A high school champ Parker Brock, who capped off his junior year at Walker-Hackinsack-Akeley two weeks ago by shooting a bogey-free 69 at Pebble Creek and posting a 36-hole total of 140 (4 under).

Brock birdied the par-4 second hole on Monday, and then made eight pars in a row. He bogeyed the 11th and 12th holes, but got those two strokes back with birdies at the par-5 15th and par-3 16th holes. But he slipped back to even par for the day when he bogeyed the 18th.    

Another shot back, at 72 and in a six-way tie for sixth, is Maple Grove's Ryan Stendahl, who was the No. 1-ranked high school player in Minnesota at the end of the regular season and was named the 2024 Minnesota Mr. Golf. Like Birdwell and Brock, Stendahl had a roller coaster ride on the back nine. Having made one birdie (the 211-yard, par-3 fourth) and one bogey (the par-4 ninth) in the first 11 holes, the soon-to-be University of Minnesota freshman birdied the par-5 12th, bogeyed the 13th and 14th, birdied the other back-nine par 5, the 15th, bogeyed the par-3 16th, birdied the 17th and double bogeyed the 18th.
   
If a six-way tie seems like a lot, It gets even more crowded at 73, where there is a nine-way tie for 12th. 

Birdwell's front nine looked a lot like Brock's and Stendahl's -- seven pars, one bogey (No. 3) and one bogey (No. 8). He was still even par after 11 holes, but he birdied three of the next four, both of the par 5s (12 and 15), plus the par-4 13th (388 yards). He bogeyed the 144-yard 16th hole, got it back to 3 under for the day with a birdie at the 17th, but bogeyed the 18th. The 17th can play as long as 429 yards, but it was shortened slightly on Monday, and the two finishing holes at Crow River, 17 ahd 18, were both 415 yards.   


Minnesota State Junior Boys Championship

At Crow River Golf Club

Par 71, 6,568 yards

Hutchinson

First-round results 

1. Chase Birdwell, TPC Twin Cities        69

T2. Parker Brock, Tianna CC                  71

T2. Ben Appelhof, TPC Twin Cities         71

T2. Lance Hamak, Blackberry Ridge       71

T2. Joey Mackinac, Southview CC           71

T6. Jimmy Abdo, Minnesota Valley CC     72

T6. Ryan Stendahl, Rush Creek GC         72

T6. Brennan  Weckwerth, Eastwood GC   72

T6. Lunden Esterline, Alexandria CC         72

T6. Alex Rhode, YOC Minnesota               72

T6. Colton Rich, YOC Minnesota               72

T12. Joe Honsa, Southview CC                 73

T12. Tyler Hoppe, YOC Minnesota            73

T12. Sully Braaten Detroit CC                    73

T12. Jacob Wilson, Forest Hills GC            73 

T12. Mick Herron, Wayzata CC                   73

T12. Timothy Sexton, Rochester G&CC      73

T12.. Karl Hochradel, Dellwood, CC            73

T12. Carver Larson, Geneva GC                 73

T12. Tully Super, Wayzata CC                     73