Grimes Cruises to Her Fourth Minnesota Women's Open Title

By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org

  
  ST. PAUL, Minn. – Winning her first Minnesota Women’s State Open 10 years ago, PGA professional Lisa Grimes fired a 3-under par 70 Tuesday at Town and Country Club to capture her fourth-career title by eight strokes.

Grimes held a two-stroke lead after carding a 1-under par 72 during Monday’s opening round, and only increased her lead as she cruised to victory with four birdies and one bogey during the final round to finish at 4-under par 142, eight shots better than McKenzie Neisen, who finished second at 150.

After winning the championship in 2004, Grimes became the first woman to win multiple times, as she hoisted the trophy again in 2006. Katie Bakken matched Grimes’ record by winning her second championship in 2007, before Grimes won her third title in 2012.

“I look forward to this tournament,” Grimes said of her success at the Women’s State Open. “I like the different venues we’ve played at, during the summer I don’t get away much to play a lot of nice courses.”

“There are a lot of good players out here and I’ve been playing with a lot of them for a little while, but it’s fun to watch them. I learn things from them and I hope that they learn things from me,” Grimes said.

Grimes started her second round by rolling in a birdie on the second hole to get to 2-under for the championship before making her only mistake of the day with a three-putt at the sixth hole to fall back to even par for the day.

Grimes grinded through the first three holes on the back before rolling in another birdie at the 13th to move to 2-under. Fully in control, she would finish strong with back-to-back birdies on the final two holes to shoot the low round of the tournament (3-under 70) to finish at 4-under par 142.

“I made some birdies, I made some putts and missed some, but that’s a give and take,” Grimes said of her week. My ball striking was pretty good off the tee and you have to be out here. I was pretty solid.”

With a slim lead heading into the final round, Grimes said she felt very poised, despite playing alongside girls more than half her age.

“I felt pretty confident—I was playing with kids,” Grimes laughed, “Which means nothing because I know they can light it up. I got beat last year when I thought I was playing well, but there were some good players ahead of me and I wanted to stay consistent. I started out solid and was 1-under most of the way. I felt if I kept it around par that no one was going to go too deep.”

Neisen, New Prague Golf Club, won her first amateur tournament Wednesday, by defeating Minnesota Gopher Anna Laorr during the Minnesota Women’s State Match Play Championship.

In her final tournament before leaving for Stillwater, Okla., to begin her freshman season at Oklahoma State University, Neisen carded a 1-over par 74 during Tuesday’s final round to finish second at 150.

“I felt pretty good about the tournament,” Neisen said with her usual smile. “It was more of a scramble the last two days. The short game felt pretty good, so that was a big confidence booster and my putting felt really good again. I got up and down and made some good saves.”

“I’m really excited for college golf,” she said. “High school golf was super fun and I had a great finish with some great people and it’s time to move on to the next step.”

McKenzie’s older sister, Steffi, was a four-year starter at the University of Nebraska and when asked if she received any advice from her sister about college golf, the younger Neisen replied, “she said to enjoy it and have fun because it goes by really fast.”

For the second straight year professional Martha Nause, Mendakota Country Club, finished in third place at 151, as Nause carded a final round 2-over par 75 Tuesday.

Nause carded two bogeys on the opening nine holes and would make the turn at 2-over par 38, before making back-to-back bogeys on the 10th and 11th holes to fall to 7-over for the championship.

Nause quickly turned things around with two birdies and five pars over the final seven holes to finish in third place at 151.

Reigning Class AA state champion, Maggie Heggerston (Cragun’s Legacy Courses), shot a final round 4-over par 77 to finish tied for fourth place with Sara Detlefsen at 154. Detlefsen, Somerby Golf Club, shot a final-round 7-over par 80 to finish the tournament.



14TH MINNESOTA STATE OPEN
TOWN AND COUNTRY CLUB
ST. PAUL, MINN.
6,163 YARDS, PAR 73


FINAL RESULTS
1. Lisa Grimes, Alexandria GC, 72-70—142
2. McKenzie Neisen, New Prague GC, 76-74—150
3. Martha Nause, Mendakota CC, 76-75—151
T4. Maggie Heggerston, Cragun’s Legacy Courses, 77-77—154
T4. Sara Detlefsen, Somerby GC, 74-80—154
6. Sarah Butler, Legacy Golf, 77-78—155
T7. Celia Kuenster, Somerset CC, 84-73—157
T7. Kaytie Zimmerman, Highland Nat’l GC, 81-76—157
T7. Ashli Helstrom, Francis A. Gross GC, 80-77—157
T7. Anni Heck, Southview CC, 79-78—157
T7. Emily Roering, Geneva GC, 79-78—157