ALEXANDRIA — Rochester’s Nick Jarrett was walking down the 18th fairway at the Alexandria Golf Club during the week-long, match-play Resorters Tournament when he looked at the gallery of golf carts surrounding the green and took a moment to appreciate what he was a part of.
Jarrett was in the midst of his finals match on Aug. 6 in the Men’s Championship Division. He was coming off a 17th hole where he had a rare three-putt and fell behind by one hole against Zak Jones, a college golfer out of the University of Texas Arlington.
Many golfers might be stewing on that missed putt on 17 that forced Jarrett into a must-win situation on hole 18 if he was going to extend the match to a playoff. Jarrett himself might have been dwelling on that in his younger years, but he took a second to appreciate that walk down the final fairway in what was a great week of golf for the 33-year-old.
“It felt like this week, I had a really good attitude about it all, and this is a really fun tournament,” Jarrett said after falling 2-up in the championship match against Jones. “I like to compete, but it allows me just to make sure I’m having fun. That’s the goal. I was telling my wife who was caddying, walking down 18 being one down, I said, ‘This is fun. This is why we practice and play so we can be in this position.’”
Jarrett and his wife, Molly, own Quarry Hill Family Dental in Rochester. They started the company 5 years ago. Molly does the dentistry and Nick manages the business side of things.
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The Jarretts are at a much different place in their lives than many of the 32 golfers who qualify for the championship flight in the Men’s Championship Division at the Resorters Tournament.
The couple has four young children and full-time jobs outside of golf. Most of this division is filled with college-aged golfers who are long off the tee and are practicing and playing competitively more frequently than guys like Jarrett can find the time for.
Jarrett, who played golf at Concordia-St. Paul until he graduated in 2011, has a way of staying sharp. The family put on an addition to the upstairs of their home a couple of years ago. The area features a net to hit into, a carpeted putting green and a small simulator that allows the whole family to pass the time in the winter.
Jarrett plays as many Minnesota Golf Association events as he can, including now at the mid-amateur level. He felt good about how he was playing coming into the Resorters, and his run through four match-play wins certainly adds to his confidence.
“(This week) was huge for me. With what the Resorters has come to in the last few years, you have to play well to get through qualifying,” Jarrett said. “You can’t just hit the ball OK. You need to play well, and then once you get in it, you don’t have an easy match. There’s a handful of us mid-amateurs, but most times you are playing some Division I college player, or good Division II or III college player. It’s fun to see that I can compete with that.”
Jarrett qualified as the eighth seed in the championship flight by shooting a 3-under par 141 through 36 holes. He moved into match play and won 3-2 in his opener.
Jarrett then beat Iowa Hawkeyes sophomore Ian Meyer of Deephaven in 20 holes before taking down North Dakota State University teammates, Nate Deziel and Gavin Cronkhite, to reach the finals.
Jarrett was dialed in during his 4-3 win over Deziel during the quarterfinals on Aug. 5. He finished his round at 6-under par through 15 holes, winning the par-four 15th with a birdie to put the match away.
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“That was probably my best round of the year,” Jarrett said. “He played solid too, but it was like, ‘My best can match up with his best.’ That day, I think my best could have matched up to anyone. You have to have that here, which is fun. You have to be able to go low and keep going. That’s what these young guys do. They just keep going after it. They get to the back nine, and they’re thinking 3, 3, 3 on 10, 11 and 12. It’s fun that they just keep pushing you.”
Jarrett beat Cronkhite, a junior at NDSU who qualified by shooting 7-under at the Resorters, in a 4-3 match on the morning of Aug. 6. That afternoon in the finals, Jones and Jarrett were both even par on the front nine as they went into the turn all square.
Jones took holes 10 and 11 with birdie. Jarrett matched a birdie putt by Jones on the par-five 12th hole that jumpstarted him. He won holes 13, 14 and 15 with two birdies and a par to move to 1-up. Jones made a beautiful approach shot on the par-four 16th to within about eight feet to take the hole with a birdie.
The hole Jarrett wishes he could have back came on the par-three 17th.
Both guys had short putts for par. Jarrett missed his just right of the cup before Jones sank his to move to 1-up. It was actually the birdie putt where Jarrett came up short after having to putt through a patch of fringe on the Texas-shaped green that left him disappointed.
“The par putt, I hit it exactly where I wanted. It didn’t break,” Jarrett said. “I played it maybe a cup out and it moved half a cup. It was more the first one. I hit the putt I wanted, but I didn’t think through what I needed to do. It was more the plan, not the execution. That’s part of it too. Sometimes it’s the plan, sometimes it’s the execution.”
Jarrett came back on 18 and hit a drive right down the fairway. He said his execution failed him on an approach shot that he mis-hit and went over the green.
“That approach shot, I just couldn’t get comfortable,” Jarrett said. “Didn’t quite commit and let the distractions get to me.”
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Jones nearly drove the green on 18, sitting just right of it off the tee. He chipped to within five feet of the cup. Jarrett could not chip in for birdie. He conceded the hole to Jones as the two shook hands in front of an applauding gallery.
Jarrett and his family stuck around the AGC clubhouse through the entire awards ceremony that lasted about an hour after their match went final. Years ago, coming up just short of the championship may have had a longer impact on him.
At 33 with a young family, he was able to appreciate what he had accomplished the whole week of the Resorters rather than dwelling on the last two holes.
“It’s given me a different perspective on golf and just having fun with it more,” Jarrett said. “This week, my family was great that they all just kind of pitch in and help watch the kids. My oldest (son) caddied for me one day and I went 20 holes. He made it all 20 holes. That was a blast. I still like to just compete. It’s fun coming out here and playing the college kids. They’re out here grinding, and they keep me sharp.”
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