Resorters: Upsets add spice to first round matches in Senior Division

ALEXANDRIA — There wasn’t a lack of drama in the 16 Men’s Seniors division match play matches on Tuesday as six golfers ranging from the 19th seed to the 32nd seed pulled off big upsets.

This includes the No. 32 seed, Patrick Murphy, the No. 27 seed, Mike Johnson, the No. 25 seed, Lance Sunder, the No. 22 seed, Eric Peterson, the No. 20 seed, Brant Mcleod, and the No. 19 seed, Todd Schneiderhan, who all earned wins.

The 16 winners continue in the championship flight on Wednesday, starting on No. 1 at 8:48 a.m. Here are the full results from Tuesday’s matches.

No. 32 seeded Patrick Murphy knocked off the top seed Mark Pokorney, 3-2. Murphy picked up two birdies to start his round. Pokorney tied things with a birdie on No. 5 and won hole six. Each golfer then won a hole and were tied, heading to the back nine. Murphy then won holes 11 and 12, while Pokorney won hole 14.

Murphy birdied the par-4 15th hole, which gave him the win, along with a tie on hole 16.

A standard 18 holes wasn’t enough to decide the winner of the match between No. 17 Al Hagen and the seed No. 16 Jeff Pederson. Pederson won the second playoff hole to advance to the next round.

Birdies on holes 13 and 15 forced the match to go to a playoff.

After Hagen birdied the first hole, Pederson took a 2-up lead with three straight wins on holes 3 through 5. Hagen cut his deficit down to one hole with a birdie on hole 7.

Pederson birdied hole No. 12 to 2-up before Hagen won the later two holes to force the playoff.

With four birdies and an eagle in his round, the No. 25 seed, Lance Sunder, defeated the No. 8 seed, Chris Berg, 4-2. Sunder birdied holes five, six and eight to go 3-up through the front nine.

Berg birdied hole No. 10 and won hole 11 to draw back within one. Sunder sealed his 4-2 victory with birdies on holes 12 and 14, an eagle on hole 16 and par win on hole 17.

A hot start led the No. 9 seed, Dan Hoops, to a 2-1 win over the No. 24 seed, AJ Kluver, on Tuesday. Hoops won four out of the first five holes by scoring par or better, including birdies on holes 1 and 4. Kluver won hole 6 with a par and Hoops led 3-up heading to the back nine.

Hoops won hole 12 but Kluver won holes 11, 13 and 14, to trim Hoops’ advantage to just 1-up with four holes to go. Hoops and Kluver traded birdies on 15 and 16, but Hoops parred the par-3 17th to win the hole and seal his win.

After tying the No. 20 seed, Tim O’Neil, through nine holes, four-seed, Marc Redman, won four holes and tied two to earn a 2-1 win on Tuesday. Redman won holes 1 and 4 on the front nine while O’Neil won hole No. 2 with a par and No. 6 with an eagle.

Redman won holes 10, 13, 16 and 17 while O’Neil won holes 12 and 15.

The No. 20 seed, Brant Mcleod, was a model of consistency on Tuesday as he parred 11 holes and birdied two to defeat the No. 13 seed, Jeffrey Johnson, 6-5. Mcleod birdied the 6th and 12th hole.

Jeffrey Johnson birdied the par-3 7th hole and had five pars on his round.

Trailing by one hole to the No. 28 seed, Stefan Freeman, with three holes to go, the No. 5 seed Curt Howard made some clutch shots to earn a 1-up victory. Howard made par on hole 16, birdie on 17 and par on 18 to win the match.

Howard won the second hole with a birdie to go 1-up but then Freeman won the next three holes to go 2-up. Howard birdied hole No. 7 to cut his deficit to one hole and tied the match by winning hole No. 12. Freeman won his final hole of the day on hole 15 with a birdie.

Mike Herzog, who is the No. 12 seed in the bracket, got going early in his round and won four out of the first five holes against the No. 21 Tom Johnson. The lone hole Herzog didn’t win out of the first five was No. 3, which Johnson birdied to win the hole.

With a 3-up lead after five holes, Herzog birdied the sixth hole and would lead 4-up after nine holes. From there he never looked back and won the match, 5-4.

Defending champion Mark Lindberg survived the heat – and a 16-hole duel against Greg Bowen – to advance to the second round.

Lindberg jumped out to the early lead by taking Nos. 2 and 3 with birdie, par but Bowen fought back with a par win on No. 4 to draw within one. Lindberg’s pars on No. 6 and 7 put him 3-up. Bowen rallied with a par win on No. 9 to pull within two at the turn.

After Lindberg took No. 11 with par, Bowen made a match of it, winning the next two holes with a birdie and a par to cut the lead to one. Lindberg kept the pressure on, taking No. 14 and 15 with birdie, par to regain a three-hole advantage with just three holes left to play. Both golfers parred No. 16, which ended the match in the defending champ’s favor, 2-1.

The match between Larry Montplaisir and Steve Cummings was tight in the early going.

Montplaisir won three holes on the front, Nos. 1, 3 and 8 with birdies while Cummings scored a par win on No. 5 and trailed by two when they crossed the road.

After that, it was all Montplaisir. He took four straight holes, Nos. 11 through 14, highlighted by an eagle on No. 14 to go 6-up. Bogeys on the next hole gave Montplaisir a quick 6-4 victory.

It just wasn’t Jerry Vetsch’s day.

He came out of the gate against Chris Haugen with four straight bogeys. Haugen took advantage and built a 4-up lead.

Vetsch stopped the bleeding with a par on No. 5 but Haugen also parred the hole to keep his big lead. Both men matched pars on No. 6 before Haugen pulled away with three big par wins on Nos. 7, 8 and 9 to go 7-up at the turn.

After swapping birdies and parks on the next two holes, Haugen put the match away with a birdie on No. 12 to post an 8-up win.

In a battle between two former champs named Rick, Frieburg, the Men’s Division champ in 1988, 1991 and 1997, came out on top, defeating the Men’s Senior 2020 champion, Vanyo.

Vanyo started out OK, taking four of the first seven holes with pars on Nos. 1, 3 and 4 and notched a birdie on No. 7. Frieburg, however, didn’t wilt in the heat. He won Nos. 2, 5 and 6, with pars and evened the match with a birdie on No. 9.

Frieburg won No. 11 and 12 with par, birdie to go 2-up. After they halved No. 13 with birdies, Frieburg pulled away, winning Nos. 14 and 15 with birdie, par to seal a 4-3 win.

Scott Marriott took the first lead against Tom Abrahamson with a par on No. 3, but Abrahamson rallied with wins on Nos. 5 and 6 with a par and a birdie to steal the lead. He never fell behind after that.

Abrahamson won the ninth hole with a par to go 2-up at the turn. He added another win on 11 with an eagle to go 3-up. Marriott won the long 12th hole with a birdie to draw within two but that would be his last hurrah. Abrahamson won No. 13 with par and No. 15 with a birdie to take the match, 4-3.

It was one of the rollercoaster matches of the day.

Todd Schneiderhan bolted out to an early lead, winning four of the first five holes with pars on Nos. 1 and 3, a birdie on No. 4 and a bogey on No. 5. Greg Peterson notched a birdie on No. 2 but trailed by three going into No. 7. That’s when Peterson suddenly seized the momentum, winning Nos. 7, 8 and 9 with pars to deadlock the match.

Schneiderhan grabbed the lead back with a birdie on No. 10 but it was short-lived. Peterson took Nos. 11 and 12 with pars to take his first lead. After halving the next two holes, Peterson won No. 15 with par to go 2-up.

Schneiderhan mounted another rally, winning No. 16 with birdie. His par win on No. 18 tied the match and sent it to overtime where Schneiderhan won the first extra hole and the match.

Momentum swings highlighted the match between Mike Johnson and David Adams.

Adams cruised out to the first lead with par and bogey wins on Nos. 1 and 2. Johnson fought back with a bogey win on No. 5, tied the match with a par on No. 8 and took a 1-up lead with a birdie on No. 9.

The match ping-ponged back and forth after that. Johnson took No. 10 with par. Adams won No. 11 with birdie. Johnson won the 12th hole with birdie but Adams won No. 15 with par to draw to within one. Johnson padded his lead with a par on No. 16 but Adams pulled back to within one with a birdie on No. 17. Both golfers could only make bogeys on No. 18, which ended the match in Johnson’s favor.

A four-hole surge on the back nine lifted Eric Peterson to a 6-5 win over John Gardiner.

Peterson built a solid lead on the front, winning four holes to Gardiner’s two, thanks to two birdies (Nos. 1 and 8) and two pars (Nos. 4 and 5).

Leading by two at the turn, Peterson played steady, solid golf, making pars on Nos. 10, 11, 12 and 13, all of them winners, to coast to an early win.

WEDNESDAY MEN’S SENIOR CHAMPIONSHIP PAIRINGS - 1ST TEE
8:48 p.m. - Patrick Murphy vs. Jeff Pederson; Lance Sunder vs. Dan Hoops
8:57 p.m. - Marc Redman vs. Brant Mcleod; Curt Howard vs. Mike Herzog
9:06 a.m. - Mark Lindberg vs. Larry Montplaisir; Chris Haugen vs. Rick Frieburg
9:15 a.m. - Thomas Abrahamson vs. Todd Schneiderhan; Mike Johnson vs. Eric Peterson