Aldrich, Rose, Dallas and Neuberger Reach Semis at 26th MGA Senior Players’ Championship

  TOWER, Minn. – With six state titles to his credit already, Mark Aldrich collected two more victories Tuesday at the 26th Minnesota Golf Association Senior Players’ Championship at The Wilderness at Fortune Bay to put himself in position for his seventh championship win.

 

Advancing from a playoff early Tuesday against Dave Steingart, Aldrich ousted defending champion Tim Peterson to reach the semifinal round for the second time in three seasons.

 

Aldrich will face five-time MGA Senior Men’s Player of the Year Jerry Rose early Wednesday in a rematch of the 2023 finals at Alexandria Golf Club, where Rose came away with his third victory at the championship.

 

“I’ve gotten better as the week’s gone on,” Aldrich said after advancing Tuesday. “You’re going to have to play good golf at this point.

 

“I’m hitting fairways and greens. It’s tough to get the ball in the hole—putting’s kind of an issue. I don’t have a lot of three-putts, but I don’t have a lot of 10 to 15-footers. Birdies are hard to come by. You still need to be aggressive and get the ball to 15-20 feet. Anything longer than that, the three-putts will happen.”

 

During his quarterfinal match, Aldrich took the early lead before Peterson countered to tie the match at the fifth.

 

Aldrich made par at the par-3 seventh to recapture the lead, but a resilient Peterson answered by winning the ninth to even the match with nine holes to play.

 

Peterson took his first lead of the match at the 10th, but Aldrich fired back with a par at the 12th.

 

The two traded birdies at the 14th before Aldrich tapped-in for birdie at the 16th to take the lead for good, hanging on for the victory, 1-up, to advance.

 

“It was pretty tight the entire match. A ton of pars back-and-forth and a couple birdies at the right time,” Aldrich said of his quarterfinal round against the defending champion Peterson. “It stinks to beat [Peterson] because he’s one of my best friends and we play a lot of tournament golf together. We shook hands on the first tee and we both said, ‘I wish we were doing this later.’

 

“I need to keep my foot on the gas. At this point, you’ve got to play the golf course and not the other person. Have to try and make birdie and hope the other guy doesn’t.”

 

Rose opened the championship Monday with a pair of victories and then advanced to the quarterfinal round following a tie against Randy Jacobus during the final round of pool play.

 

He built a 3-up lead through nine holes against 2019 MGA Senior Amateur champion Trent Wilcox during Tuesday’s afternoon session, but it wasn’t good enough as Rose watched Wilcox claw his way back to tie the match with a birdie at the par-5 16th.

 

Rose closed the door on the ensuing hole with a par to advance.

 

Rose claimed his first victory at the championship in 2017 at St. Cloud Country Club, and added a second four seasons later at The Quarry at Giants Ridge.

 

He’s also finished runner-up twice since 2018, falling to David Rehfeldt at Brackett’s Crossing Country Club and dropping his final match against Jay Gregory at Cannon Golf Club in 2020.

 

Earning a two-stroke victory at the 2022 MGA Senior Amateur at Crow River Golf Club, Bob Neuberger notched a pair of victories Tuesday to advance to the semifinals for the first time since.

 

“I said I needed to play the best round of my life to beat [Johnson] and I did. I had five birdies in 13 holes,” Neuberger said Tuesday. “I have not putted that well all year. I made one really long putt and some good par putts.

 

A fast start helped Neuberger to a 3-up lead through five holes before making a lengthy birdie putt at the 11th to increase his lead to four.

 

He took advantage of a Johnson bogey at the 12th and closed out the match by converting one final birdie chance from inside of five feet at the 13th to advance, 6 and 5.

 

“My driver has been in the fairway and I’m hitting my irons well, and I haven’t putted that well in a long, long time,” the 62-year-old Neuberger said. “Tomorrow I will need to play as well as I did today. Keep my head down, put the ball in the fairway and play on.”

 

Neuberger will face defending MGA Senior Amateur champion Andrew Dallas when the championship resumes early Wednesday.

 

Dallas, who edged Matt Yeager by a stroke last season to claim his first state title at age 64, had little trouble against 2017 MGA Senior Amateur winner David Haslerud early Tuesday, 6 and 5.

 

Carding his first birdie of the quarterfinal round at the par-4 ninth against Scott Maki, Dallas evened the match before taking his first lead by winning the 10th.

 

Dallas extended his lead to two, but watched as Maki won the 14th and 16th holes to draw even with two holes to play.

 

Deadlocked after regulation, Dallas converted his birdie chance at the first playoff hole to advance to the final four.