Brynn, Peterson & Tylke Tied at the Top in State Publinx

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STILLWATER -- Trent Peterson will be going after his 37th state golf championship on Sunday when he plays the final round of the Minnesota Public Links Championship. He shot a 6-under-par 67 at Loggers Trail on Saturday, and that has him in a three-way tie for first with Max Tylke and Yarri Brynn. 

So Peterson has the best resume in the field, but Tylke would appear to have the law of averages on his side. The 31-year-old Tylke has eight state titles to his credit, including three that came in the Publinx (2016, '18, '20), but he's also had five runner-up finishes in the last 12 months. And that string of near misses began at last year's Publinx, which he lost to Matt Armstrong in a playoff at Royal Golf Club. He's added four more seconds to the list this year. It started  with the Publinx Four-Ball. He and Ryan Tschann lost by a shot (minus 13 to minus 14) to Jesse Larson and Justin Burleson at Oak Glen.

Then came the MGA Mid-Players Championship in June at Deacon's Lodge, where Tylke lost 2 down to Peterson in the final. In the State Open at Rush Creek in early July, Tylke came within a couple of inches of making his birdie putt on the 18th hole. That would have givien him the victory outright. Instead, he went into a three-way playoff with Caleb VanArragon and Carson Herron, and Herron, who came from behind with a second-round 64, won the playoff with a birdie on the second extra hole. A week after that, in the State Amateur at Minnesota Valley, Tylke birdied the par-5 10th and the par-5 15th in the final round. But he bogeyed the par-4 16th and, once again, just missed a birdie putt on the last hole -- a 600-yard par 5 in this case -- and that left him in a massive, five-way tie for second, one shot behind the winner, Nate Diezel. 

"I keep coming close," he said Saturday, after making eight birdies and two bogeys at Loggers Trail. 

If you keep knocking on the door, so the theory goes, eventually, it will open. 

Tylke, who leads the MGA Player of Year points list this year, got into red numbers quickly, knocking a 3-wood (metal) onto the green at the 533-yard, par-5 second hole and two-putting for a birdie. The first of his two bogeys came at the par-3 fourth. After that, his birdies came in bunches, including four in a row from the seventh to the  10th holes. That started with a flip wedge to 6 feet at the par-4 seventh (357 yards), and he followed that with a second shot to 7 or 8 feet at the 475-yard, par-4 eighth. At the 568-yard, par-5 ninth, he had a 50-yard third shot, hit it to 7 feet, and made that putt, too. Tylke just missed the green at the par-5 10th (507 yards), but chipped to within tap-in range for his fourth birdie in a row.

He said he drove the ball "really well" all day, hitting a lot of fairways, and his wedges were largely responsible for two of the three birdies in a row that he made coming down the stretch. Having made a bogey at the 470-yard, par-4 11th, he got that shot back at the 14th, where he a wedge from 90 yards left him wtth a 5-footer for birdie that he converted. And after bombing a drive at the 441-yard, par-4 15th, he hit a wedge to 1 foot. His birdie at the par-5 16th (527) was pretty much a replay of the 10th. He was a couple of yards off the green in two and chipped close for an easy birdie.

One birdie chance that Tylke left on the table was the 17th hole, which can be a par 4 or a par 3. On Saturday, it was a drivable, 290-yard par 4.  (That was the reason Loggers played to a par of 73.) Tylke put his tee shot in the greenside bunker and had to settle for a par.

(On Sunday, the 17th will be a 225-yard par 3, and the par for the course will be 72.)

Peterson, 37, is a three-time MGA Player of the Year, and like Tylke, he's a three-time State Publinx champion, having won the title for the first time in 2006. He should probably have four State Publinx titles, because in 2008 he did everything but win. He led by four that year with four holes to go at Chaska Town Course, and played the last four holes in 1 under. If you do that, you're supposed to win. But Troy Johnson played the last four holes in 5 under -- birdie, birdie, birdie, eagle! -- and beat Peterson on the third hole of a playoff. It wasn't until 2019 that Peterson did claim his second Publinx title, and he got the third in 2021. 

Leif Carlson, a former Publinx champion (1991), wasn't very happy about his four three-putts that relegated him to a 77 on Saturday. But he was definitely impressed by what he saw playing in the same threesome with Peterson. 

"When you hit every drive in the middle of the fairway, and have a putt of 15 feet or less for birdie on every green," he noted, "golf becomes a pretty easy game."

After starting off with three pars, Peterson birdied three of the next four holes -- Nos. 4, 5, 6 and 8. He took advantage of the par-5 10th, which got him to 5 under for the day. The 14th at Loggers can be tricky because of the slope of the green, and he made a bogey there, but he birdied the par-5 16th and took advantage of the short 17th with another birdie there.

The 33-year-old Brynn, who was both a golf and hockey star in high school at Minneapolis South, hasn't won the Publinx, but he came close in 2010. Having shot 70-69--139 at The Jewel, he tied for first with David Smith, who proceeded to win their playoff with a birdie on the first extra hole. 

He got off to a quick start Saturday, with birdies on the first two holes. A birdie at the fifth made up for a bogey at the fourth, and he followed his birdie at the ninth with an eagle 3 at the 10th. Brynn dropped back to 4 under for the day when he bogeyed the 12th, but he finished with a flourish, birdying the short 17th and the long 18th.

Brody Pass is in fourth place, two behind after a 69. One behind him is Joel Johnson, a two-time Mid-Publinx champion who seems to spend every summer in contention at one tournament or another, 

The defending champion, Matt Armstrong, who finished third in each of the two years preceding his victory, has some work to do if he's going to get back into the top five this year. He shot 75 on Saturday and is tied for 17th. 

Minnesota State Public Links Championship

At Loggers Trail

Par 73, 6,870 yards

Stillwater

First-round results

T1, Trent Peterson, Bunker Hills               67 (-6)

T1. Yarri Brynn, Bunker Hills                     67

T1. Max Tylke, Legends Club                    67

4. Brody Pass, Bunker Hills                       69

5. Joel Johnson, Links at Northfork          70

T6. Max Ulen, Bunker Hills                        71

T6. Erik Bredesen, Oak Marsh                  71

T6. Baron Topher, Bunker Hills                  71

T6. Jonathon Hanner, Goodrich GC           71

10. Herman Connor, Fox Hollow GC          72

T11. Eric Rislove, Prestwick GC                 73

T11. Ralph Baxley, Bunker Hills                  73