It's Hamm vs. Bell, Buege vs. Jacobson in Players' Semifinals

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INDEPENDENCE -- During the time of the Roman Empire, emperors and generals who won conspicuous victories over the empire's enemies were given "Triumphs," which were essentially victory parades, upon returning to Rome. The hero would ride through the streets to the cheers of the masses, but there would be a slave standing behind him in his chariot reminding him of his mortality by whispering in his ear: "All glory is fleeting. All glory is fleeting."

Just ask Scott Thomas. He was the hero in the third round of The Players' (State Match Play) Championship on Tuesday morning at Windsong Farm Golf Club, as he defeated the tournament favorite and No. 1 seed, Sammy Schmitz, 3&1.

In the next round, the quarterfinals, Thomas raced off to a 5-up lead over Tim Hamm in the first nine holes of their match. But then fortune switched sides. Hamm, a former Division III All-American from Emory University who moved to Minnesota from Chicago a couple of years ago -- and won the Twin Cities Championship last summer -- took the next seven holes in a row. He won the first five in the string with pars and concluded his winning spree with birdies at the 499-yard, par-4 15th and 202-yard, par-3 16th holes, which put him 2 up.

He closed out a remarkable 2&1 victory over Thomas by halving the 17th hole with a par.

Hamm had barely made it to the quarters. In the previous round (the Round of 16), he was 1 down to the MGA's 2011 Boys Junior Player of the Year, Dillon Schultz, with one hole remaining. He squared the match with a birdie at the 571-yard, par-5 18th, and won it with another birdie on the first extra hole (No. 1, 446 yards, par 4). 

So now Hamm, who made it to the quarterfinals of this tournament last year before losing to a University of Minnesota player, Colton Buege, will take on another Gopher player, Robert Bell, in Wednesday morning's semifinal round. (The championship match will be played shortly after the semis are finished.)

Bell, another former MGA Junior Player of the Year (in 2008, the year he won 14 of the 17 high school tournaments he played in, including the state tournament, and the Minnesota Boys Junior Championship), emerged victorious from the longest match of the tournament so far, a 22-hole epic against Drew Lynch. Lynch birdied the 18th to extend the match, and both players parred the first three extra holes, before Bell won with a par at No. 4 (201, par 3).

In the quarters, Bell met his future Minnesota teammate Kyle Beversdorf, a transfer from Northern Iowa who had to sit out the 2011-12 season but will become eligible in the fall, and defeated him 1 up. Birdies at the first and fourth holes gave Bell an early 2-up advantage. Beversdorf, yet another MGA Junior Player of the Year (2009), won the sixth with (454, par 4) a par, but Bell got the lost hole back when he birdied the eighth (443, par 4) to go 2 up again. It was all pars from there, except for a bogey at the 15th, and the result was a 1-up victory.

That was the last match of the day, and it didn't end until 8:55. The morning matches were delayed 2 1/2 hours as a result of the heavy rain that had fallen during the night, flooding parts of the course and turning virtually every bunker at Windsong into a lake. Windsong's grounds crew got high marks for getting the course into a playable condition as quickly as it did.  

When Schmitz was dismissed from the tournament, it appeared to clear a path for the No. 2 seed, Troy Johnson, to the trophy presentation. But Colton Buege thought not. The Minnesota sophomore-to-be made it to the semifinals for the second year in a row (last year, he lost to the eventual champion, Ryan Peterson, in the semis) by knocking off Johnson 2&1.

Buege went 3 up by playing the first five holes in 2 under. Johnson, the 2011 State Open champ, responded by winning the seventh (190, par 3) with a par and the eighth with a birdie, and he pulled even with a birdie at the 10th (191, par 3). A birdie at the 12th put Buege back in front. He went 2 up again with a par at the 15th, lost the 16th to a birdie, but drew the curtain on the last act of this match by winning the 17th (446, par 4) with a par.

A few hours earlier, Buege had been level with Matt Schneider after 10 holes, but he won the 11th with a par and the 12th and 13th with birdies on the way to a 3&2 victory. 

The other semifinalist is Andy Jacobson, who is developing a reputation as a tough guy to beat in a match. He made it to the finals of the MGA Mid-Players' Championship last year, before losing to Erik Christopherson, and he got to the semis of the Mid-Players' this year. Now here he is in the semfinals of the Players'.

Jacobson was all square with Dylan Gergen after nine holes in the Round of 16 and won three of the next seven holes with pars for a 3&2 victory. Against Beau Hanson in the quarters, he won three holes in a row on the front nine -- the sixth and seventh holes with pars, and the eighth with a birdie -- to establish a 3-up lead, and he countered Hanson's birdie at the 12th (599, par 5) with a birdie of his own at the 13th (376, par 4) to restore his 3-up status, and went on from there to win 3&2 once again.     

34th MGA Players' Championship

At Windsong Farm

Par 71, 7,346 yards

Independence

First-round results 

Sammy Schmitz def. J.B. Lloyd 21 holes

Trenton Olson def. Gary Lawson 4&3

Lucas Angrimson def. Patrick Larkin 3&2

Scott Thomas def. James Lehman 2&1

Dillon Schultz def. Jack Teal 1 up

Kane Bauer def. Clayton Curwin 3&2

Tim Hamm def. Brett Draxler 1 up

Anthony Daffer def. Tyler Brewton 8&7

Kyle Beversdorf def. Geoff Klein 2&1

Greg Werner def. Tommy Koehler 1 up

Sam Matthew def. Eric Harris 1 up

Andrew Kimble def. Luke D. Halvorson 5&4

Dylan Baker def. Erik Christopherson (WD)

Robert Bell def. Tim Duffey 4&3

Rob Norris def. Devin Holmes 1 up

Drew Lynch def. Robert Stocker 1 up

Troy Johnson def. Brian Loushine 2&1

Chris Conklin def. Bennett Schroeder 2 up

Casey Vangsness def. Michael McMahon 6&4

Jesse Bull def. Jake Solomon 2&1

Blake Onkka def. Adam Arola 1 up

Matt Schneider def. George Fortier 2 up

Colton Buege def. Jake Miller 20 holes

Hudson Carpenter def. Tyler Jensvold 4&3

Toby Robinson def. David Smith 2&1

Beau Hanson def. Alex Holtan 2&1

Tyler Lowenstein def. David Steingart 4&2

Nicholas Jarrett def. Michael David Dutoit 1 up

Jesse Larson def. Benjamin Walker 1 up

Andy Jacobson def. Nicholas Olsgaard 2&1

McCabe Buege def. Jon Trasamar 4&3

Dylan Gergen def. Steve Barschdorf 4&3

Round of 32

Schmitz def. Olson 2&1

Thomas def. Angrimson 3&1

Schultz def. Bauer 3&2

Hamm def. Daffer 8&6

Beversdorf def. Werner 2&1

Matthew def. Kimble 3&1

Bell def. Baker 4&3

Lynch def. Norris 4&2

Troy Johnson def. Conklin 2&1

Bull def. Vangsness 6&4

Schneider def. Onkka 2 up

Colton Buege def. Carpenter 1 up

Hanson def. Robinson 4&3

Lowenstein def. Jarrett 4&3

Jacobson def. Larson 3&2

Gergen def. McCabe Buege 3&2

Round of 16

Thomas def. Schmitz 3&1

Hamm def. Schultz 19 holes

Beversdorf def. Matthew 4&3

Bell def. Lynch 22 holes

Johnson def. Bull 3&2

Colton Buege def. Schneider 3&2

Hanson def. Lowenstein 3&2

Jacobson def. Gergen 3&2

Quarterfinals 

Hamm def. Thomas 2&1

Bell def. Beversdorf 1 up

Colton Buege def. Troy Johnson 2&1

Jacobson def. Hanson 3&2