Closing Birdie Guarantees 3rd State Open Title for Grimes

MINNETRISTA -- Lisa Grimes claimed her first Minnesota state golf title in 1978, when she was a senior at Alexandria and won the high school tournament. Jaclyn Shepherd won her first state championship last week, when she subdued defending champ Cassie Deeg in the final at Mankato GC to win the Women's State Match Play. 

Their contrasting histories notwithstanding,  it was Grimes and Shepherd who were dueling down the stretch on Tuesday at Burl Oaks GC for the crown in the 2012 Minnesota Women's State Open.

Grimes leap-frogged Shepherd to take the lead when she made par at the 349-yard, par-4 14th hole and the University of Minnesota senior-to-be from Delafield, Wis., suffered a double bogey. Shepherd pulled even again with a birdie at the 532-yard, par-5 16th, but Grimes went ahead for good at the 17th (368 yards, par 4), which Shepherd bogeyed.

One ahead with one hole to go, Grimes took no chances. The Geneva GC teaching professional birdied the 368-yard par-4 18th, which gave her a 1-under-par 71 for the round, a 36-hole total of 145 -- and a two-stroke victory. Not to mention $650. 

Grimes was the only player to break par in a round during the tournament. 

Shepherd, the first-round leader, ended up with a 74 Tuesday and took second place with a 147. 

Celia Kuenster, the two-time state Class AAA high school champ from Cretin-Derham Hall -- she still has two years of high school eligibility left -- birdied two of the last three holes and equalled the second-best score of the tournament, a 73. The reigning Women's State Amateur champion -- she'll defend that title next week at Medakota -- finished alone in third with a cumulative 148.

Sarah Burnham, like Kuenster a member of the prodigiously talented high school class of 2014 (she'll be a junior at Wayzata this fall), claimed fourth place at 154 with a second straight 77.

Taylor Hoag, a recent Eden Prairie graduate and University of Missouri-St. Louis recruit, shot 77 and ended up another stroke back at 155, tied for fifth along with Idaho sophomore-to-be Mary Sweeney, who shot 78.

The Women's State Open has been around for only 12 years. Otherwise, Grimes would undoubtedly have won it more often. As it is, she won it in 2004 and again two years later in '06. 

There isn't much in Minnesota that she hasn't won, beginning with that high school championship 34 years ago at Forest Hills GC, when her name was Lisa Kluver. The high school tournament was a one-class competition in those days, and Kluver's winning score of 147 remained the record for the large-school class until 2010, when another Alexandria girl, Maggie Leland, won with a 143. (Kuenster lowered the record by another two strokes this year with a 141.)

Kluver then won the Women's State Match Play in 1980, defeating another former high school champ, Kathy Williams, 3&2. And in 1982, she won the Women's State Amateur -- by 13 shots! -- with a 212 (70-69-73) at Mankato GC. 

MINNESOTA SECTION PGA

Minnesota Women's State Open Championship

At Burl Oaks Golf Club

Par 72, 6,165 yards

Minnetrista

Final results 

1   Lisa Grimes (p)       Alexandria GC      74-71--145 +1 $650.00
 2   Jaclyn Shepherd (a   University GC      73-74--147 +3  
 3   Celia Kuenster (a)   Somerset CC        75-73--148 +4  
 4   Sarah Burnham (a)    Rush Creek GC      77-77--154 +10 
 T5  Tayler Hoag (a)      Minnesota Valley   78-77--155 +11 
 T5  Mary Sweeney (a)     Hillcrest G&CC     77-78--155 +11 
 7   Allie Ostrander (a)  Minnewaska GC      79-77--156 +12 
 T8  Jennifer Pederson (a Southview CC       79-78--157 +13 
 T8  Katie Detlefsen (p)  Somerby GC         80-77--157 +13 $425.00
 T8  Olivia Lansing (a)   Dellwood Hills GC  78-79--157 +13