Hillier Putts His Way to Victory at MGA Senior Players' Championship

By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  WAYZATA, Minn. – Todd Hillier, a potato farmer from North Dakota, two-putted from 75 feet on the final hole Wednesday at Wayzata Country Club to defeat John Anderson and claim his first Minnesota Golf Association Senior Players’ Championship.

Hillier never trailed during the final match, taking an early lead on the front nine. Anderson evened the match late, but after Hillier lagged his long birdie chance to within five feet on No. 18, he sank his par putt to claim the title, beating Anderson, 1-up.

“I had low expectations not playing much golf recently, but every day I was getting more comfortable with my swing. When you finally feel that, you get more confident and then there’s no doubt when you’re standing over the ball.

“There are a lot of great players here so any time you can win a golf tournament, and first Minnesota Golf Association tournament, it’s great. I won the Pine to Palm in 2010 and that was a great experience and this is another great experience,” he said.

Hillier, Windsong Farm, took advantage of an early bogey by Anderson to take a 1-up lead after five holes as the two played extremely tight over the next seven holes.

Anderson, Bunker Hills Golf Club, evened the match at the par-3 13th after Hillier failed to sink his par putt as the two traded bogeys at the 15th and 16th to remain tied.

Sticking his approach close on No. 17, Anderson appeared to have the upper hand, but couldn’t get his birdie to fall as Hillier dropped his par putt from 20 feet to keep the match deadlocked.

After Anderson three-putted the intimidating and sloped final green, Hillier converted a superb two-putt for the victory.

“It was a good match and both of us played pretty steady on the front nine,” Hillier said after his win Wednesday. “I made one mistake on 16—I clubbed wrong and was just trying to get to the middle of the green and it flew on me and we went back to even.

I made a great putt for par on 17 and that was the tournament right there. Then I had the big bender on 18, but those two putts were, by far, the outcome of the tournament.”

Anderson may be new to MGA senior events, but he’s certainly not new to success on the golf course.

He won the Twin Cities Championship in 2002 and the Minnesota Public Golf Association Championship in 2006.

In 2009 he added the MPGA Senior Public Links to his resume as well as the Minnesota Senior Open.

“It was pretty much a struggle today—I didn’t hit a lot of fairways and didn’t hit a lot of greens,” Anderson said after his match Wednesday. “I made some good up-and-downs but [Hillier] putted really well and deserved to win.

“I was happy with how I hung in there, especially today. It would’ve been easy to go two, three or four down but I made a couple of good up-and-downs to give myself a chance. This is my first time playing this event and to finish second—I’ll take that. I like how I’m playing right now and I hope it can continue the rest of the summer.”