McCain and Fiedler Find Chemistry Quickly to Win MPGA Combo

By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  COON RAPIDS, Minn. – Andrew McCain and Mike Fiedler arrived at Bunker Hills Golf Club as complete strangers Sunday. After 27 holes, the two appeared as though they’ve been playing together for years, carding a 12-under par 96 to win the 2015 Minnesota Public Golf Association Combination Tournament by one stroke.

The tournament consists of each two-man team playing a nine-hole scramble, a nine-hole best ball followed by a nine-hole alternate shot format.

McCain and Fiedler carded a 2-under par 34 on the opening nine before shooting a 33 during the best ball portion and finished the final nine holes at 7-under par 29 to defeat defending champions, Jeff Pint and Jordan Hawkinson, as well as the team of Sammy Schmitz and Jon Holmes by one shot.

“We got off to a really incredibly slow start during the scramble—we were just a couple under and quite a ways back of [Schmitz and Holmes] and we hung around long enough and stayed within range of them. Then we got hot,” Fiedler said after the victory Sunday.

“It was a really interesting day,” McCain said following the victory Sunday. “It didn’t look good for a while. We were 3-under through 15 and then 9-under in our last 12 holes. To have an alternate shot the way we did is not something you could write up or expect.”

The two were introduced just before the start of Sunday's championship, leaving little time to get to know one another.

"We met this morning on the putting green," Fiedler laughed.

"Jordan Hawkinson hooked us up together," McCain added, "Maybe that's why we had a slow start."

The two began the championship by rolling in back-to-back birdies at the fifth and sixth holes, moving to 2-under. Carding a birdie on the 13th hole, McCain and Fiedler moved to 3-under and would add another pair of birdies on the 16th and 17th holes, heading to the final nine holes at 5-under par.

With chemistry clicking, McCain and Fielder opened the final nine holes with back-to-back birdies to jump to 7-under before carding an eagle at the par-5 fourth hole on the East Course.

Rolling in three birdie chances over the final four holes would give McCain and Fiedler a one-stroke victory at 12-under par 96.

“I thought we played pretty good during the best ball and we birdied some of the same holes so it was kind of boring, I guess, but the scramble was killer,” McCain said. “We had a hard time judging some shots into the greens and had some tricky putts that we didn’t make. Then it was a snowball effect making birdies. I was making the shots and [Fiedler] was making the putts.”

“We birdied the first hole of the alternate shot, the 19th hole, and that gave us a little bit of hope. Then we birdied [No. 2] and eagled four and had the momentum from there,” Fiedler said.

The victory for McCain Sunday gave him four wins on the season as he won each of his last four events. He claimed the 2015 Minnesota State Open in July before winning the Minnesota Golf Association Amateur Four-Ball Championship with partner Hudson Carpenter in August.

McCain, Dellwood Country Club, then defeated Carpenter to win the 2015 Lyle Cran Shortstop Tournament two weeks ago, adding his fourth victory Sunday at Bunker Hills.

“I had a really good end of the summer and it’s kind of a bummer that [MGA Player of the Year] is out of reach, but it’s been a lot of fun and been a good run of golf for me,” McCain said.

Fiedler, TPC Twin Cities, won the Minnesota PGA Junior Championship in 1999 before advancing to back-to-back semifinal rounds at the Pine to Palm Tournament in 2004 and 2005.

He won the Loren Krugel Tournament in 2005 and finished as runner-up at the Lyle Cran the same season.

Fiedler won the 2006 MGA Mixed Amateur Team Championship before stepping away from the game for over five seasons. Upon returning to competitive golf last year, Fiedler qualified for the 2015 U.S. Amateur Four-Ball Championship and, most recently, advanced to the semifinals of the MPGA Match Play Championship in August.

“I took five-six years off and just started to get back into golf in the last year or so, but it’s fun to play well and play for something—I enjoy hitting shots that matter,” Fiedler said. “I got a little nervous—I was terrified on the last hole, I thought I was going to hit it in the parking lot.”

Defending champions Hawkinson and Pint earned a four-stroke victory a year ago and set the pace as the early clubhouse leaders Sunday as the two finished at 11-under par 97.

The two carded a 3-under par 33 during the opening nine scramble before firing a 5-under par 31 during the best ball. The pair would finish with another 33 for the alternate shot to finish tied for second with Schmitz and Holmes.

Schmitz and Holmes, winners in 2012, fired a 6-under par on the opening nine before carding a 33 during the best ball before finishing the championship with a 34 for the alternate shot.


For complete tournament results go to: http://p.hostingprod.com/@mpga.net/2015_Combo_Flight_1_2.pdf