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Golf: Men's Amateur features small field, big talent
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FarkRAPID CITY — Some big questions will be answered over the next three days at the 38th annual South Dakota Golf Association Men’s Amateur Championship at Arrowhead Country Club.
Will this be the year Rapid City’s Geoff Mead breaks through with his first SDGA win? Will Sioux Falls’ Ryan Jansa get back on the winning track? What about 58-year-old Rapid Citian Mike Brummer getting his first career amateur title? Will this be another year for a lesser-known contender to come up big? Or, none of the above?
Matt Pridey, of Sioux Falls, is back to defend his title. Pridey, who also won the 2006 Junior, broke the tournament scoring record last year with a 12-under-par total at The Bluffs Golf Course in Vermillion. He edged two-time defending champion Michael Martin by a stroke.
For what it lacks in numbers — there are 90 competitors and a full field is 144 — this year’s tournament makes up for it in talent.
One player that knows the venue quite well is Mead.
“I’m looking forward to coming back to Arrowhead,” said the 23-year-old Mead, who was third last year. “It’s the place where I grew up playing, and it’s one of my favorite places in the world.
“I’m going to go out and try to win the title.”
Jansa, an 11-time SDGA winner, holds the record for most Amateur titles (6) and most wins in succession (4), however, he hasn’t won since 2004. He was runner-up to Martin in 2005.
Although Brummer has 13 career SDGA titles, tied for most amongst men and second overall all-time, he’s never found the winner’s circle at the amateur.
“You know, I’ve gotten two seconds, (but) I haven’t been able to break through,” he said. “It’s kind of the one championship I’m still missing, so it would be fun to win it and kind of complete the sweep.”
Brummer does have a couple things going for him this year. Not only did he team with Brookings’ Pat Lockwood to win the Two-Man Championship by five shots earlier in the season, he’s no stranger to the course, winning four Arrowhead Pro-Ams between 1983 and 1989.
“On a course like Arrowhead, you know, it’s a little tricky,” Brummer added. “If you don’t hit it in the right spots on the greens, it’s going to be a long week of putting.”
Sioux Falls’ Tom Carlson will be another player to watch. The University of New Mexico standout has won back-to-back Match Play Championships, including a 2-and-1 win over Rapid City’s Tim Kalil this year.
Kalil was medalist at the Match Play after a round of 3-under-par 69 at Moccasin Creek Country Club in Aberdeen.
“I really like where my game is at,” Kalil, the 2004 Junior champ, said. “My putting is getting closer, but I’ve been hitting it great for a while. If I get it all together, I really like my chances at Arrowhead.”
A couple of local players to keep an eye on are Rapid City’s Jeff Salter and Tyler Rachetto.
“Jeff Salter he knows every blade of grass at Arrowhead Country Club and he’s definitely dangerous,” said Mead.
Salter, 35, has played Arrowhead since he was 13 years old. Four years after winning the 1989 SDGA Junior Championship, he turned pro. He said he was checking out the SDGA schedule a few years ago and marked this event down on his calendar, and in May of 2008, he officially got his amateur status back.
Rachetto has won the Arrowhead Pro-Am a record six times since 1996. He’s a two-time SDGA champion, including the 2004 Two-Man with Lead’s Chris Collins.
Other past SDGA champions in the field include Rapid City’s Hugh Welsh (2 wins) and Steve Beardsley (1), Lead’s Lance Collins (1) and Tyler Evenson (1), Agar’s John Anderson (4), Sioux Falls’ Chad Dubisar (3), Steve Reiter (2), Justin Johnson (1), Greg Johnson (1) and Mitch Brunick (1), and Aberdeen’s Roger Legge (1), who was inducted into the SDGA Hall of Fame on July 10.
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