Trasamar Leads Golf Champions, But It's Crowded at the Top

ST. LOUIS PARK --  Jon Trasamar concluded his college golf career at the University of Minnesota almost exactly one year ago, and he did it in impressive fashion. He finished third in the Big 10 Championships, made the All Big 10 tournament team, and was also named a Cleveland/Srixon All-American Scholar. 

He then started his professional career even more impressively, winning his first Dakotas Tour event by shooting a pair of 64's in the final two rounds at Bakker Crossing GC.

The former Pine to Palm champion is now beginning his second full year as a pro, and he's off to an another impressive start. On Saturday in the second round of the Minnesota Golf Champions tournament, he shot a 1-over-par 73 at the formidable Minneapolis Golf Club, which gave him an aggregate of 143, and he will take a one-stroke lead into Sunday's final round.

There are three players tied for second at 144, including Edinburgh USA head pro Don Berry, a five-time champion of this event, and amateur Scott Gustafson, a former Minnesota state high school champ who plays a limited tournament schedule these days but always seems to play well at MGC. He's never won the Golf Champions title, but he's been second twice. Like Trasamar, Berry and Gustafson both shot 73 on Saturday. 

Also at 144 is a first-timer at the Golf Champions -- Andrew Layton. The reigning State Public Links Mid-Amateur champ started the day three behind Trasamar. Layton birdied the 470-yard, par-5 first hole, and so did Trasamar about 20 minutes later. But Layton made three more birdies in the next five holes, which earned him a share of the lead. 

A bogey at the daunting, 458-yard, par-4 eighth hole sent Layton's round into reverse, it appeared, and he made a double at the 235-yard, par-3 10th, followed by a bogey at the 11th (410 yards, par 4). He righted the ship after that, however, and played the final seven holes in 1 under, thanks to a birdie at the 560-yard, par-5 15th.

Meanwhile, Trasamar was having a few issues of his own. As if the 10th hole weren't hard enough, there was an unattended plastic cup not far from the teeing area, and it blew over just as Trasmar was initiating his swing on the long par-3. The cup began clattering on the concrete near the Starter's Shack at about the time Trasamar was reaching the top of his backswing. He seemed unfazed by the disturbance afterward, and he did manage to get his 3-iron tee shot onto the front right fringe. But he was a long way from the hole (the pin was on the back half of the green), and he three-putted for a bogey. And just as Layton had done ahead of him, Trasamar also bogeyed the 11th hole. He got one back with a birdie at the 13th, but followed that the a bogey at the 14trh.

There were two more threesomes lined up right behind the 144's. The three guys at 145 were Ryan Helminen, a two-time Tapemark Chartiy Pro-Am winner who has contended for the Golf Champions title before, former Minnesota State Open champ Ryan Peterson, and Trent Peterson, the 2014 MGA Player of the Year.

One stroke back of them were three former winners of the Golf Champions crown: defending champ Donald Constable, four-time champ Clayton Rask, four-time Minnesota PGA Player of the Year Jeff Sorenson.

On Friday, everyone played in the morning, and it was cold. The course played several hundred yards longer than the 7,045 that the scorecard shows, and no one was all that surprised that the lowest scores of the day were a pair of 70's, by Trasamar and Ryan Peterson. 

On Saturday, everyone played in the afternoon, and the weather conditions were just about perfect. A temperature in the upper 60's and not much wind. So why didn't anyone do better than the 71's by Layton, Sorenson, Constable and Tim Brovold (who's at 147, tied for 11th)?

"The greens," Gustafson suggested. "They're not as smooth in the afternoon as they are in the morning, and besides that, there were some tough pin placements out there today. Look at No. 18 (where the pin was tucked behind a large bunker  with a mound right behind it). That's usually the Sunday pin position. When the pin is there, it's really tough to get your second shot close, and there were a few other pin like that, too."

"This is just a tough course," Helminen said, echoing the majority opinion. 

Trasamar agreed with that, but added that there might still be "one low round out there. If you're driving the ball well, you can get a lot of short irons into the greens. You just have to play well and take advantage of your chances."

Last summer, Trasamar concentrated on the Dakotas Tour. He picked his spots, playing in only five of the 18 tournaments on the schedule, but he was still able to finish 10th on the Dalkotas money list, with more than $23,000. 

This year, he has turned his attention to the PGA Tour Latinoamerica. He went to Florida in January to play in that tour's North American Q-School, and he tied for 22nd. That will get him into pretty much any of the first nine tournaments on the schedule (there are 18 events in all), and his goal is to play his way onto the web.com Tour, which is now just about the only path to the PGA Tour.

The No. 1 money winner on the Latinoamerica will be fully exempt for the web.com in 2015, and Nos. 2 through 5 on the list will be conditionally exempt. It is also possible to get exemptions for one or two stages of the web.com Q-School by finishing in the top 20 or -- even better -- the top 10 on the money list. 

"I've played in one tournament so far," Trasamar noted, "and I missed the cut. But they've got tournaments scheduled four weeks in a row beginning in May (next week, actually), and I'm going to play in all of those." 

There were 28 players (24 plus ties) who made the Golf Champions cut Saturday, and it fell at 151. Tee times will begin shortly after 11 a.m. on Sunday, and the final threesome of Trasamar, Gustafson and Layton is scheduled to go off at 12:27 p.m.
 

MINNESOTA PGA

Minnesota Golf Champions

At Minneapolis Golf Club

Par 72, 7,045 yards

Second-round results 

1. Jon Trasamar (p), Windsong Farm GC           70-73--143

T2. Don Berry (p), Edinburgh USA                      71-73--144

T2. Scott Gustafson (a), Hazeltine National        71-73--144

T2. Andrew Layton (a), Keller GC                       73-71--144

T5. Ryan Peterson (ar)*, Interlachen CC            70-75--145

T5. Trent Peterson (a), Valleywood GC              73-72--145

T5. Ryan Helminen (p), Ridgeway GC (Wis.)    73-72--145

T8. Jeff Sorenson (p), The Minikahda Club       75-71--146

T8. Donald Constable (p), Spring Hill GC          75-71--146

T8. Clayton Rask (p), Riverwood Nat'l.              74-72--146

T11. Timothy Brovold (p), Bunker Hills GC        76-71--147

T11. Lisa Grimes (p), Alexandria GC                  74-73--147

T11. Justin Smith (p), Bolstad/University GC     73-74--147

* -- Ryan Peterson is a former professional who is now an amateur awaiting reinstatement