Eagles Boost Siblings Ben and Madi Hicks to MGA Mixed Amateur Team Championship Victory

  HASTINGS, Minn. – Helped by a pair of final-round eagles Tuesday at Hastings Golf Club, the brother-sister tandem of Ben and Madi Hicks fired a 4-under 68 to win the 35th Minnesota Golf Association Mixed Amateur Team Championship.

Team Hicks erased a one-stroke deficit on the final day, finishing the 36-hole championship at 10-under 134 to defeat the team of Cora and Carver Larson and Mark and Grace Petzold by two strokes to become the sixth brother and sister champions since the event’s inception in 1991.

“I’m happy we got to play together,” said Madi, who earned the 10th state title of her career Sunday and first since winning the 2023 Resorters Tournament. “It’s been a few years with him not living at home during the summer anymore, but we just play golf together well and feed off each other—motivation was a big thing this week.”

"The fact that we won it together means a little more because we’ve played in this event multiple times. Being able to pull it off is great,” said Ben, who earned his second win at the championship Sunday, previously winning the 2020 championship with fellow University of South Dakota golfer Julia Hall the last time the tournament was played at Hastings Golf Club.

Team Hicks rallied with four birdies during their final nine holes during Monday’s opening round to shoot 6-under 66 and pull within one shot of 18-hole leaders Betsy Kelly and Kirk White.

The two switched to a Modified Chapman alternate shot format during Tuesday’s final round seamlessly by carding a birdie at the first before Ben holed out for eagle from 95 yards at the par-5 third to take sole possession of the lead at 9-under for the championship.

Surrendering their lead with a pair of late bogeys to close out their opening nine, Team Hicks converted an eagle putt from 30 feet at the par-5 10th to regain the lead for good.

Madi wedged her approach inside of four feet at the 13th to give the two a three-shot advantage before an inconsequential bogey at the last gave the sibling squad a two-stroke victory at 10-under 134.

“After the [eagle at No. 3], we got really comfortable and the first couple-hole jitters went away,” Madi said. “We had a solid foundation, and we were pretty even from there.”

“With the long eagle at 10, it was almost just a match play tournament from there,” Ben Hicks said. “We ended up playing really consistent golf and the cherry on top was Madi’s punch shot from the trees on 13 to three feet.”

Most recently, siblings Kathryn and Caleb VanArragon claimed the 2023 championship played at Brackett’s Crossing Country Club, while Lily and Tony Vincelli became the first father-daughter duo to win the event when they earned medalist honors at the 2022 championship at Northfield Golf Club.

The Larson brother and sister duo tallied their best finish at the championship in three previous appearances, posting a final-round 66 to finish tied for second at 8-under 136 with Team Petzold.

“We were five back coming in and we played really bad on our front nine yesterday,” Carver said Tuesday. “We were kind of care-free at that point. We just wanted to go out and hit fairways for one another and put each other in the right spots. We played 27 good holes—at 10-under.”

“We were 2-over when we made the turn yesterday, so we were not happy about our front nine. We definitely wished we could’ve gotten a couple back, but at the end of the day, nothing to hang our heads about.”

The twosome of Mila Jenniges and Miles Bollinger carded a final-round 67 Tuesday to finish in a share of fourth with former Edina High School teammates Brooke Bothwell and Jimmy Abdo and first-round leaders Kelly and White at 7-under 137.

Following up a 5-under 67 during the opening round Monday, 2009 overall champions Leigh Klasse and J.T. Johnson combined to post a 7-under 65 to run away with a 10-stroke victory in the Senior Division over the twosome of Brenda Williams Dave Carothers.