Mid-Players' Championship Match Set as Schmitz and O'Brien Will Duel for Title

By Nick Hunter
nhunter@mngolf.org


  WAYZATA, Minn. – Sammy Schmitz has taken home more hardware than just about any other golfer in the state of Minnesota.

Winning the Minnesota Golf Association Mid-Players’ Championship in 2012, Schmitz has reached the semifinals three times and had his worst outing a year ago, getting eliminated during the quarterfinals.

Schmitz will have the opportunity to add another Mid-Players’ Championship to his long list of achievements after defeating Joe McCormick and 2014 MGA Players’ champion Johnny Larson Tuesday to move on the finals Wednesday at Wayzata Country Club.

“I won both matches today so I couldn’t be happier and I think I’ve been under par every round,” Schmitz said after advancing to the finals Tuesday. “I’ve had four really tough opponents—this is probably the most difficult match play tournament I’ve ever played in besides USGA events.

“The field seems to be getting better and better each year and we seem to be adding great players each year to our mid-circuit.”

To become only the second golfer with multiple Mid-Players’ titles, Schmitz will first have to get past Joe O’Brien during Wednesday's final, as O’Brien bested Justin Burleson before coming from behind to edge Andy Jacobson on the final hole Tuesday to advance to the finals.

While O’Brien is getting himself reacquainted to amateur golf, he’s certainly no stranger to seeing his name near the top of the leaderboard.

O’Brien, a longtime assistant professional at Minneapolis Golf Club, left the industry but recently regained his amateur status last season, and playing in one of his first events, seemingly hasn’t lost a step.

In 2007 O’Brien finished second at the Minnesota State Open while taking third at the Minnesota Golf Champions. Two years later he would take fourth at the Minnesota Golf Champions with his best finish coming in 2011 finishing as runner-up to Brett Swedberg.

“I [regained amateur status] last summer—late July. It was kind of late in the year so I wasn’t able to play in a lot of events last year. We have a young, growing family so I’m not able to play a lot, but I’m going to pick some mid-am events and play as much as I can. It’s fun and good to get the juices flowing again,” O’Brien said about returning to competitive golf.

Schmitz, Valleywood Golf Course, quickly fell 2-down to McCormick after making bogey at the first and double-bogey at the third, but quickly turned things around, winning four of the next five holes to take a 2-up lead to the back nine.

Taking advantage of a bogey by McCormick at the 10th, Schmitz increased his lead before rolling in a birdie chance at the 11th to go 4-up. Schmitz went 5-up at the 13th and clinched the match on the following hole to win, 5 and 4, and advance to the semifinals.

“I started out terrible today—I was 2-down right away,” Schmitz said. “I haven’t been playing the par-5s very well. Each round they’ve been very accessible and I’ve put my drives in really good positions but have not capitalized.

“[McCormick] got up early but he just didn’t have his best. I played him last year and he got me pretty good,” Schmitz smirked.

McCormick defeated Schmitz, 7 and 6, during the quarterfinals a year ago at Brackett’s Crossing Country Club.

Playing in a back-and-forth battle against Larson in which the lead changed four times, Larson grabbed the early lead with a birdie at the second.

Schmitz bounced back with a birdie at the third and would eventually take his first lead of the match after a birdie at the ninth.

Larson evened the match at the 12th, but Schmitz would take the lead and hold on for good at the 13th. He played the final five holes at even par to advance to the finals, beating Larson 1-up.

“I was 4-under par against [Larson] and I only had one birdie on a par-5 and he was 3-under and birdied every par-5 except the last one,” Schmitz said.

Taking an early 2-up lead during his quarterfinal match against Burleson, O’Brien stumbled at the fourth with a bogey but came back by winning the eighth and ninth holes with par to take a 3-up lead to the back.

Burleson made things interesting late with a pair of birdies to cut the deficit to one, but would make double-bogey at the 16th and O’Brien sealed the match with a par on the 17th to win, 2 and 1.

“I think I was a little rusty this morning, I got off to a decent start but made a bunch of pars,” O’Brien said of his match of Burleson. “He made some mistakes towards the latter part of the front nine and I managed to go up three. Then I played pretty solid on the back nine—I was making my par putts from five and six feet.”

MGA Players’ Champion in 2012, Jacobson came out flying in Wednesday’s semifinal match with a birdie on the fourth.

O’Brien, Rush Creek Golf Club, would birdie the fifth to even the match but Jacobson took four of the next five holes to take a daunting 4-up lead with eight holes to play.

A patient O’Brien began to build momentum with back-to-back birdies at the 11th and 12th to trim the deficit to two before taking advantage of a Jacobson bogey to pull within one at the 13th.

O’Brien squared the match with a par at the 16th and after a splendid wedge on the final hole, he clinched the match as he was able to get up-and-down for par to advance to the final match Wednesday.

“This afternoon I made a lot of mistakes early, I think I made three bogeys on the front with a birdie and got myself behind early,” he said. “I was fighting a little bit of ball striking and didn’t get up-and-down as well as I had been. On the back nine I hit the ball a little bit better and putted much better. I think there was a little fatigue that set in on those last few holes but I was able to buckle down and make a good wedge shot on 18.”

“You need to pick your points to be aggressive. There’s a lot of defensive ball striking and putting because of the slopes on the greens so you need to pick your spots when you can go at the flag or when the front edge is just fine,” O’Brien said Tuesday. “With this caliber of talent, you need to make some birdies, especially at this point of the tournament.”

Playing very little competitive golf for the better part of two seasons, O’Brien said his expectations were rather simple.

“I just wanted to be invited back next year so I didn’t have to qualify. That was a big goal and now—it’s time to win it.”

The 2015 MGA Mid-Players’ Championship concludes Wednesday as the final match is scheduled to begin at 7:40 a.m. at Wayzata Country Club.