Resorters golf: Champion and medalist roll on in Men’s Executive

ALEXANDRIA — Four time division champion Troy Johnson of Maple Grove and this year’s medalist Geoff Klein breezed to quick victories during a windy Wednesday in the Men’s Executive Division.

Both their matches were over after 14 holes.

The second-seed, Bryan Hoops, who shot a 71 in qualifying, also had a short match, winning in just 11 holes.

But not all the matches were lopsided.

Ninth seeded Andew Petersen needed all 18 holes to defeat the 24th seed, Steve Tax; the fourth seed, Chad Hacker, took 17 holes to put away the 19th seed, Tyler Wirth; and the seventh seed Daryl Schomer survived a 17-hole match against the 26th seed, Chad Marlow.

There were also some upsets. Daniel Klein, the 22nd seed, knocked out 11th-seeded Chad Bisson; Jeffry Cota, the 21st seed, defeated Troy Nygaard, the 12th seed; and the 20th seed, Chris Cattoor, edged the 13th seed, Tom Heimerman.

The 16 golfers who outlasted the wind and their opponents will tee it up today at 12:55 p.m. from the No. 1 tee. Meanwhile, here’s a look back at yesterday’s matches:

Medalist Geoff Klein continues to swing a hot club. He made four birdies in his match against Joshua Bell, which propelled him to a 6-4 win.

The match was close through the first five holes. Starting on the No. 10 tee, Bell won the hole with a bogey. Klein recovered with a birdie on No. 11 and stole the lead with a par on No. 12. Bell, however, answered with a birdie on No. 14 to tie the match. Klein then reeled off four straight wins, highlighted by birdies on Nos. 16 and 18 to take a 4-up lead at the turn.

Bell’s par on No. 1 cut the lead two three. But after halving the next hole with pars, Klein put the match away with three straight wins, going birdie, par, par to end it.

The match between the No. 16 seed, Mike Williams, and the 17th seed, Jeremy Decko began with bogeys on No. 10.

Williams then went on a tear, winning four of the next five holes with a par, two birdies and another par to go 4-up. Decko tried to get back in it but could only match Williams’ bogey on No. 16 and pars on Nos. 17 and 18, and still trailed by four at the turn.

Williams’ birdie on No. 1 put him 5-up. Decko recorded his only win of the match, a par on No. 3 but it wasn’t enough. Williams closed out the match with a par win on No. 4 and a birdie on No. 5 for a 6-4 victory.

Joe Sauer, the eighth seed, won six of the first nine holes in his match against the 25th seed, Mike Rose.

The golfers started on No. 10 and it didn’t take long for Sauer to take command. He won Nos. 11 and 12 with birdie, par and added more back-to-back wins on Nos. 14 and 15 with pars, and No. 17 and 18 with birdie, par to go 6-up.

After crossing under the road to No. 1, both golfers made par but Sauer iced the match with a par win on No. 2 and a birdie on No. 3 for an 8-6 victory.

Petersen was able to stave off a late comeback from Tax to win a down-to-the-wire contest.

Starting from the No. 10 tee, Petersen won three holes on the first nine – Nos. 12, 15 and 18 – with par, birdie, par. Tax, meanwhile, struck for two par wins, Nos. 11 and 14.

Hanging onto a 1-up lead, Peterson got some breathing room with a par win on No. 1. The match then settled into a who-will-blink-first contest as both golfers halved the next three holes with two pars and a bogey. Tax made a clutch comeback, winning Nos. 5 and 6 with pars, to tie the match. Petersen regained the lead with a par on No. 7 but Tax rallied again with a par win on the 8th hole. Petersen finally put the match away with a par on No. 9 for a hard-earned 1-up victory.

A fast start carried Chad Hacker to a 3-1 victory over Tyler Wirth.

Starting from the No. 10 tee, Hacker leaped out front with three par wins on the first three holes. After swapping pars on No. 13, Wirth took No. 14 with a bridie to pull within two. Hacker, however, bounced right back, winning No. 16 with a bogey and No. 18 with par to go 4-up at the turn.

Hacker kept the pressure on by winning No. 1 with a birdie but Wirth kept the match interesting with a par win on No. 2 to cut the lead back to four. Both golfers swapped pars and bogeys on the next four holes to end the match in Hacker’s favor.

Trailing by as much as three holes, Cattoor never was ahead until the very end but he never gave up.

Heimerman won the first two holes, Nos. 10 and 11 with birdie, bogey to go 2-up. Cattoor rebounded with a par win on No. 12 and a birdie on No. 14 to draw even. Heimermann regained the lead with a par on No. 15 and the score stayed the same through the next three holes.

Heimerman padded his lead with a bogey win on No. 1 and a par win on No. 3 to go 3-up. Cattoor battled back with par wins on No. 4 and 7 to cut the lead to one. Cattoor tied the match with a clutch par on No. 9 and then completed the comeback by winning the first extra hole.

Starting the match on No. 10, Shay Conder, the number-five seed, notched three solid pars and they were all winners, giving him a 3-up advantage over Brent Grossman.

Grossman stopped the barrage with a par on the short 13th hole but Conder matched it to preserve his lead and added to it with wins on No. 14 (birdie) and No. 15 (par) to go 5-up. Grossman got his first win on No. 16 with a nice birdie but Conder came right back with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 17 and 18 to go 6-up at the turn.

Conder’s par on No. 1 put him 7-up. Grossman won his second hole of the afternoon with a par on No. 2 but it was too little, too late. Conder’s bogey was good enough to win No. 3 and the match, 7-6.

In a match with shifting momentum, Jeffry Cota outlasted Troy Nygaard, 5-3.

Nygaard took the first lead, a par on the first hole, No. 10, but Cota came back with a birdie win on the par-5 12th hole to tie it. Nygaard retained the lead with a birdie on No. 13 and padded his advantage to 2-up with a par on No. 14. That proved to be the last hole Nygaard would win. Cota won No. 15 with birdie and Nos. 17 and 18 with pars to go 1-up at the turn.

Cota played flawless golf through the next six holes, making par on No. 1 to go 2-up, striking for birdie wins on Nos. 3 and 5 to 4-up and then finishing with flair – an eagle on No. 6.

On the day, Cota was 4-under par through 15 holes.

Bryan Hoops, the division’s number-two seed with a qualifying round of 71, showed no signs of cooling off Wednesday.

Starting from the 10th tee, Hoops won the first eight holes in his match against the 31st seed, Brett Bloedorn. During that stretch, he scored an eagle (No. 10), two birdies (Nos. 11 and 12) and five pars.

After halving No. 1, Hoops won his match in style with a birdie on No. 2 for a 9-7 win. On the day, Hoops was 5-under-par.

A strong showing on the last nine holes gave Kerry O’Donnell a 3-1 victory over Matt Fischer.

The match bounced back and forth in the early going. They each won three of the first nine holes – O’Donnell took Nos. 11, 14 and 16 with pars while Fischer prevailed on Nos. 12 (birdie), 13 (par) and 15 (par).

After halving the next three holes, O’Donnell carded back-to-back birdies on Nos. 4 and 5 to go 2-up. Fischer answered with a par on No. 6 to cut the lead to one but O’Donnell iced the 3-1 win with par wins on No. 7 and 8.

Schomer built a 5-up lead through the first nine holes, winning Nos. 11 (birdie), 12 (par), 14 (par), 15 (birdie) and 16 (birdie) and matching Marlow’s pars on Nos. 10, 13, 17 and 18.

But Marlow wasn’t done yet. He won Nos. 1, 2 and 3 with pars to pull within two. Schomer won the 4th hole with a par to go 3-up but Marlow won No. 6 with par to cut the lead to two again. Both golfers parred No. 7 and Schomer put the match away on the next hole with a birdie to win it, 3-1.

Andrew Olson didn’t lose a hole in the final nine to defeat Craig Crosby, 3-2.

Starting from the 10th tee, Crosby had the momentum in the first nine, winning four holes to Olson’s three.

After the turn, however, Olson won No. 1 and 2 with pars to steal the lead. After matching Crosby’s bogey, double-bogey and par on the next three holes, Olson won No. 6 with par and No. 7 with birdie to pull off the win.

Both Paulsen and Noll won two holes through the first nine. Paulsen won Nos. 11 and 14 while Noll took Nos. 10 and 18.

Paulsen played stronger on the next nine, taking four holes – Nos. 2, 3, 6 and 7 – while Noll managed just one win, a par on No. 10. This gave Paulsen the 3-2 win.

It took 19 holes for Eric Heimsness and a last-minute surge to take down David Kvasager.

Kvasager led by two after the first nine and went to 3-up with a birdie on No. 1. He held that lead until No. 5 when Heimsness made birdie to draw within two. Heimsness then turned the match around with a par win on No. 7 and a birdie win on No. 8 to tie the match and force a playoff. Heimsness prevailed to advance in the tournament.

Troy Johnson reeled off five wins on the first nine holes to take a commanding 4-up lead at the turn against Breton Stout.

Stout won No. 1 to pull within three but Johnson won Nos. 2 and 3 with pars to go 5-up. He tied Stout on the next two holes to preserve a 5-4 victory.

Daniel Klein overcame a three-hole deficit to salvage a 3-1 victory over Chad Bisson.

Bisson won the first three holes with three pars to go 3-up. Klein got back into the match with wins on Nos. 15, 16 and 18 to tie the match.

Klein took the lead for the first time with a par on No. 4 but Bisson struck back with a birdie on No. 5 to draw even. Klein then amped his game up a notch and won the next three holes with birdie, bogey and par to sear the 3-1 win.

MEN’S EXECUTIVE PAIRINGS FOR THURSDAY -- FIRST TEE BOX
12:55 p.m. - Geoff Klein vs. Mike Williams; Joe Sauer vs. Andrew Petersen
1:05 - Chad Hacker vs. Chris Cattoor; Shay Conder vs. Jeffry Cota
1:15 - Bryan Hoops vs. Kerry O’Donnell; Daryl Schomer vs. Andrew Olson
1:25 - Nick Paulsen vs. Eric Heimsness; Troy Johnson vs. Daniel Klein