Tommies Rexing and Rouleau Hold Off Greve and Polk to Win MGA Four-Ball

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  LAKE CITY, Minn. – Tying a tournament record during their opening round Monday with a 12-under 59 at The Jewel Golf Club, University of St. Thomas teammates Owen Rexing and Zach Rouleau followed it by firing a final-round 65 Wednesday to claim the 63rd Minnesota Golf Association Amateur Four-Ball Championship.

Rexing and Rouleau carded six birdies over their final 13 holes Wednesday to pull away from the team of Ben Greve and Jesse Polk to earn a two-stroke victory at 18-under 124.

“It proves further that Tommies are good golfers,” Rexing laughed Wednesday. “It was so much fun playing with Zach and helping each other out the whole way and then to hold the trophy at the end is pretty cool.”

“A win feels really good and shows that I can compete at this level of golf,” Rouleau said following his round. “There are a lot of really good players in this field, so it’s a big confidence builder. Most importantly, it was fun to play with Owen for the first time in this event—I’ll remember this one for a while.”

A clean four-ball sweep for St. Thomas after Nicole Reineke and Isabelle Lynch claimed the women’s championship in late July, while Rexing and Rouleau also become the second Tommie team to claim the MGA Four-Ball title in three seasons after Matt Armstrong and Cole Nasby won the 2022 championship at Le Sueur Country Club.

Opening the final round with a three-stroke advantage, Rexing and Rouleau started slowly with consecutive pars before carding their first birdie of the final round at the par-4 sixth to reach 13-under.

Following a birdie at the eighth, the Tommie twosome would turn in 14-under and share the lead with Greve and Polk.

“We were still hitting the ball well,” Rexing said of the start to the final round Wednesday. “Just wanted to keep balls in play and give ourselves two looks per hole. We weren’t making any bogeys, but we just couldn’t get anything to fall.”

“Going into the day, I thought if we got to [18-under] that it would be good,” Rouleau said. “Early in the round, we saw that teams were playing well and just tried to keep doing what we have been doing. We kept hitting them in close and you’re going to eventually make some putts.”

Finding their collective stride during their final nine holes, Rexing sank his birdie attempt from 15 feet at the 10 before Rouleau converted his birdie look from six feet at the 12th to reach 16-under.

Rolling in a birdie putt from inside of eight feet at the 13th gave the two the outright lead at 17-under before Rouleau added one final birdie for good measure at the par-5 16th, dropping a 3-footer to seal the championship at 18-under 124.

“I know we had good golf in us to play well in Round One, but I’m proud of how we battled after not starting well, even after other teams were going low,” Rexing said. “We still managed to get it around bogey-free today. There were some nerves for sure—we missed some putts on the front nine.”

“I'm proud of how we handled the front nine today with how well we played Monday and then struggled to get it going today,” Rouleau countered. “We stayed patient and didn’t get frustrated.”

Rexing, a former Rosemount High School standout, claimed co-medalist honors at the Class AAA Championship to cap off his senior year first his first state title in 2022, while his South Suburban counterpart Rouleau, a prep star at Farmington High School, collected his first state title Wednesday.

Greve and Polk began the day four shots off the lead Wednesday but made up ground in a quick hurry with five birdies over their first six holes to climb the leaderboard to 12-under.

Back-to-back birdies at the eighth and ninth would give the two the outright lead at 14-under for the championship.

Sinking a pair of birdies over their first four holes of their back nine, Greve and Polk traded blows with Rexing and Rouleau, but after both Greve and Polk missed the par-3 15th green, they would fail to get up-and-down to slow momentum with their second bogey of the championship.

A late birdie at the 16th would put Greve and Polk at back at 16-under but with two pars over their last two holes, they’d come up two short at 16-under 126.

“We played really well today, really. Just ran out of gas a little bit the last few holes,” Greve said following his round Wednesday. “I missed a birdie putt on [No. 14] and a soft bogey by both of us on 15. Jesse almost had one on 17 and I almost made one on 18. We were there, just didn’t see it in at the end.”

Following an 8-under 63 with a bogey-free 7-under 64 Wednesday, the twosome of Brett Bennett and Trent Peterson finished in third place at 127, while the teams of Jonathan Hanner and Jon Holmes and Jacob Pedersen and Max Ullan placed tied for fourth at 14-under 128.

Oak Ridge Country Club will play host to the 64th MGA Amateur Four-Ball Championship.