Rask Overpowers MGC & the Field for 3rd Minnesota Golf Champions Victory

By Mike Fermoyle (mikefermoyle@gmail.com)

ST. LOUIS PARK -- Clayton Rask put on a virtuoso display of power golf on Sunday, averaging well over 300 yards with his tee shots at Minneapolis Golf Club while putting together a 7-under-par 65 that could easily have been at least a couple of strokes lower on the way to his third victory in the Minnesota Golf Champions tournament.

The former University of Minnesota star -- and Nationwide Tour regular -- concluded the festivities with a 54-hole aggregate of 207. Only one other player, Donald Constable, another former Gopher star and the reigning State Amateur champ, was able to finish the tournament under par. He posted a final-round 69 for a 214 and sole possession of second place.

Jeff Sorenson, the Director of Golf at Columbia GC and three-time former Minnesota PGA Player of the Year, started the final round but could do no better than a 75 on Sunday. That gave him a cumulative 216 and put him in a tie for third with former Gopher All-American Justin Smith, who closed with a 68. That 68 was the second-best score of the weekend, which is further testimony to how well Rask played.

Yet another Minnesota alumnus, Thomas Campbell, now a mini-tour pro, tied for fifth at 218 thanks to a valedictory 69, along with Wisconsin club pro Ryan Helminen, the 2010 Tapemark Charity Pro-Am winner. Helminen shot 73.

Sorenson, who was paired with Rask, was impressed by what he saw.

"He played like a (PGA) Tour pro," Sorenson said. "I've played in PGA Tour events; so I've seen those Tour guys hit it on the course, and I've been next to them on the pracitice range. Guys like Vijay Singh and Phil Mickelson. I hit it about the same distances they do, although Phil might be a little bit longer. But then there are 10 guys who are in a completely different category -- J.B. Holmes, Dustin Johnson, Robert Garrigus, Bubba Watson and guys like that. Clayton is in that category."

Among other mind-boggling things that Rask did on Sunday was to hit a 7-iron over the green at the par-3 10th, which was playing 218 yards. At the 11th, which goes in the opposite direction, he hit a 345-yard drive and then flipped a 62-yard wedge close enough to make a birdie, and he followed that with a 330-yard drive and a 170-yard pitching wedge -- a 170-yard pitching wedge! -- for another birdie at the par-5 12th.

"That 7-iron on 10 landed two-thirds of the way onto the green and hopped over, which means he hit it 230 yards," Sorenson marvelled. "A 7-iron."

It's not as if Sorenson, who won the Golf Champions in 2006 (sandwiched between Rask's two previous victories in '05 an '07), doesn't have any pop in his game. He was averaging over 300 yards with his drives, too. At No. 18, which played 460 yards, he hit what he described as "a little low cut" that carried 250 yards in the air and then rolled another 80 (he was 25 yards past Rask after that one). From there, he hit a sand wedge 12 feet below the hole, but he missed the birdie putt, which sort of summed up his day.

"I didn't make the putts I needed to make," he lamented. 

Sorenson did make his share of birdies over the weekend. He had15 of them in all, plus one eagle (Sunday at the 12th). But he also made 15 bogeys, plus one double.

"When you make 15 birdies and an eagle," he said, "you should be 10 under par, not even." 

Actually, a few bogeys were pretty much inevitable on MGC's firm, fast greens. Shots that looked good bounced over greens and ended up in some really thick, gnarly rough. Chipping close from there, especially to the many greens that slope severely from back to front, was difficult and occasionally impossible. As a result, there was only one bogey-free round during the tournament -- and that belonged to Rask on Sunday.

"Hitting it a long way isn't decisive, or a guarantee that you're going to win," Sorenson noted. "Zach Johnson doesn't hit it that far, and look how successful he's been. And Jim Furyk. He's been one of the best players on the PGA Tour for 20 years, and he doesn't hit it all that far. But if you can hit it a mile, it's definitely an advantage."

Rask's 65 was a perfect example of that. One of the ironies of the round was that he didn't birdie the easiest hole, the 475-yard, par-5 first.

"I had a fried egg (semi-buried lie) in the bunker," he explained.

The former MGA Player of the Year (2007) made his first birdie at No. 3, a 565-yard par-5. After launching his drive 330 yards, he hit a 6-iron just short of the green, chipped to 8 feet and drained the putt. 

"I really wasn't making any putts the first two days," he said. "So it was nice to make the one at 3. That got my putter going."

He made another birdie putt at the 145-yard, par-3 fourth, after a soft pitching wedge from the tee. That put him in the lead. Another 330-yard drive and a 122-yard gap wedge set up a birdie at the eighth, and by the time Rask he capped off a front-nine 33 with a par at the ninth, he was three strokes clear of the field. 

Rask salvaged a par at the 10th after the gargantuan 7-iron shot that went over the green, and then put expanded his lead by another two strokes when he made a birdie at the 11th and Sorenson made a bogey. Then came the 12th -- and the 170-yard pitching wedge.

A 170-yard pitching wedge? 

"I was expecting a flyer, and I didn't want to go over the green," he said.

The birdie at the 12th got him to minus 5 for the day and minus 7 for the tournament. Sorenson made an eagle, but he was still four behind at minus 3.

Rask, who finished second a month ago in a tournament on the Peach State Professional Tour in Georgia (he's No. 6 on the Peach State money list with $3,413 even though he's played in only two of five events)  burned the edges of the holes with birdie putts at the 13th and 14th and made tap-in pars. That was good enough to increase his advantage, however, because Sorenson bogeyed both holes. At just about the same time that Rask and Sorenson were finishing the 14th, Constable was making an eagle 3 at the 575-yard 15th, and that's where he took over second place, at minus 2.

A drive shoved 20 yards right of the fairway prevented Rask from reaching the 15th green in two. No problem. He hit a towering 3-iron over the trees and carried it 250 yards into the wind, and followed it with a 40-yard pitch to 3 feet, thus setting up another birdie.

He made his final birdie of the day at the 17th, where the 6-foot-2, 205-pound bomber from Elk River smoked a 340-yard drive, hit a 70-yard wedge to 10 feet and converted the putt, which toppled in on its last quarter turn.

The wind was swirling a bit on Sunday, which is why Rask and his uncle Terry, who serves as his caddie, misjudged it from the 18th fairway, and his wedge shot from 150 yards wound up in the front bunker, in a less-than-great lie.

"I started the day with a fried egg," Rask pointed out, "and I finished it the same way. But I got it up and down at 18 (he blasted to 5 feet), which was nice, because you always hate to finish a round with a bogey."  

So what's next for Rask?

After finishing 92nd on the Nationwide money list last year, he lost his fully exempt status on golf's highest minor league. But he still has partial status, and there's a good chance that he can get into the BMW Charity Pro-Am this week. The tournament, which begins on Thursday, will be played on three different courses in North and South Carolina. 

"I was No. 6 on the waiting list on Friday," Rask said. 

That means there's a very good chance he'll get into the tournament. If he does and can make a sizable check, he could move high enough on the money list to improve his chances of getting into future tournaments. 

There will be what's called a "reshuffle" right after the BMW. What that happens, players who didn't have much status but have played well and made money will move up on the priority list. Those who had status but haven't made money will move down. 

"If I don't get in to the BMW, or do get in and don't make any money," Rask said, "the reshuffle will kill me."

The other tournament  potentially in Rask's not-too-distant future is the U.S. Open. He made it through Local Qualifying last Tuesday at Rush Creek (he and former State Amateur champ Tom Hoge both shot 69's and were co-medalists) and will be playing in the Sectional Qualifying at Glen Ellyn Golf Club near Chicago in a couple of weeks. 

Depending on how things go between now and then, he could play in the Tapemark at Southview CC in early June. He could also play on the Dakotas Tour this summer, and he might play in the State Open at Bunker Hills in late July. That could be considered a belated defense of the State Open title he won two years ago, but did not defend last year,  because he was busy on the Nationwide.

"Right now," Rask summed it up, "everything is up in the air. Talk to me in a couple of weeks, and I'll know a lot more about what my schedule for the rest of the year is going to be."

In the Past Masters Division, Mike Barge won as expected. The Hazeltine National teaching pro, who won the 2006 Minnesota State Open at age 51 -- and nearly won it again three years later at age 54 -- normally plays in the Regular Division at the Golf Champions tournament, but he had obligations at his home course on Friday, which meant he could only play in the division for players who won state titles at least 25 years ago. (The Past Masters play two rounds instead of three.) 

Barge led from start to finish this weekend, opening with a 73 and backing it up with a 70 on Sunday. His 143 total gave him an eight-stroke margin of victory over another first-timer in the division, John Spreiter.

On Saturday, Spreiter incurred a two-stroke penalty for hitting a wrong ball on the way to 78. But the former MGA Players and Mid-Am champ rallied with a second-round 73 and finished four ahead of North Dakota pro Terry Comstock (73-82--155). 

Minnesota Golf Champions

At Minneapolis Golf Club

Par 72, 7,045 yards

St. Louis Park

Final results (for complete results -- and hole-by-hole scoring -- go to the Minnesota Section PGA website: mnpga.bluegolf.com)

(a-indicates amateur, p-indicates professional, ar-indicates amateur awaiting reinstatement) 

                                 Regular Division

1   Clayton Rask (p)        Crystal Lake           70-72-65--207 -9  $1,800.00
 2   Donald Constable (a)    Spring Hill GC         73-73-68--214 -2  
 T3  Justin Smith (p)        University of MN       72-76-68--216 E   $1,000.00
 T3  Jeff Sorenson (p)       Columbia GC            72-69-75--216 E   $1,000.00
 T5  Thomas Campbell (p)     University GC          77-72-69--218 +2  $650.00
 T5  Ryan Helminen (p)       Ridgeway G&CC          75-70-73--218 +2  $650.00
 7   Andrew Paulson (a)      University GC          70-76-73--219 +3  
 T8  Ryan Peterson (p)       Cannon GC              75-74-71--220 +4  $487.50
 T8  Brett Swedberg (p)      Alexandria GC          72-74-74--220 +4  $487.50
 T8  Robert Bell (a)         University GC          71-71-78--220 +4  
 T11 Eric Rolland (p)        Woodhill CC            75-75-71--221 +5  $325.00
 T11 Tyler Obermueller (p)   Troy Burne GC          74-69-78--221 +5  $325.00
 T11 Eddie Wynne (p)         University GC          74-71-76--221 +5  $325.00
 T14 Celia Kuenster (a)      Somerset CC            76-72-74--222 +6  
 T14 Jesse Larson (a)        LeSueur CC             75-73-74--222 +6  
 16  Benjamin Greve (a)      Minneapolis GC         71-74-78--223 +7  
 T17 Bill Israelson (p)      Vintage GC             73-76-75--224 +8  $212.50
 T17 Troy Johnson (a)        Rush Creek GC          73-75-76--224 +8  
 T17 Don Berry (p)           Edinburgh USA          72-76-76--224 +8  $212.50
 20  Ben Meyers (p)          Medina G&CC            74-74-77--225 +9  $175.00
 21  David Christensen (a)   Elk River GC           72-79-75--226 +10 
 22  Jim Sorenson (p)        Momentus Golf          77-73-77--227 +11 $150.00
 T23 Joe O'Brien (p)         Minneapolis GC         79-71-79--229 +13 $125.00
 T23 Steve Chesley (a)       Dellwood Hills GC      80-69-80--229 +13 
 25  Marshall Hoiness (p)    The Minikahda Club     76-75-83--234 +18 $100.00