SD’s best to test challenges of Brandon’s tree-filled golf course

Brandon Golf Course this week host’s one of the biggest tournaments in course history, the 2017 South Dakota Golf Association Men’s and Women’s Amateur championships.

“We’re excited about it,” said BMGC manager/golf pro Zane Swenson. “We put a bug in Wade Merry’s (executive director for SDGA) ear that we’re ready to host a tournament like this. The course is becoming a little more challenging with the trees being more mature, so it’s worthy of hosting a men’s stroke play.”

Aaron Lickteig of Marion and Megan Mingo of Yankton are back to defend their titles they captured in 2016 at Hillcrest Golf and Country Club in Yankton. Lickteig, who will be a senior at the University of Wyoming, led wire-to-wire a year ago with rounds of 69-70-72. His 5-under-par score of 211 was good enough for a six-stroke victory. Mingo, who is bidding for a third consecutive Women’s Amateur Championship, fired rounds of 73-74-72 to post an eight-stroke win.

Other past Amateur champions in the field are: Tommy Vining, Jesse Talcott, Paul Schock, Karla Cotton, Alex Shattuck, Julean Michels, Parker Klitzke, Sam Olson, all of Sioux Falls, Chris Long of Garretson, T.J. Meyer of Rapid City, Sydney Bormann of Parkston, and Katie Bartlett of Pierre.

The Men’s Amateur Championships is the SDGA’s largest state golf tourney. Swenson said a field of 122 players (102 men, 20 women) are registered to compete. Approximately 15 of the competitors, he added, are Brandon course members. Practice rounds are set for Thursday, and tournament play begins at 7:30 a.m. off Nos. 1 and 10. The afternoon wave begins at noon. The tournament continues Saturday and the 54-hole event concludes Sunday afternoon. Pairing and results can be found at www.sdga.org.

The course, Swenson said, will be blocked off (for public play) Friday through Sunday.

“Hopefully our golfers understand because it’s a privilege to have this tournament at our course,” he said. 

The BMGC has hosted eight SDGA state tournaments over the years but Swenson views this tournament as “the biggest and most prestigious.” The 1,600 trees planted by Bill Reiter over a span of 30 years, he said, has made the course challenging. The trees, Swenson said, come into play if you miss the fairway, making the BMGC a “shot-makers course.”

Course superintendent Kelly Eilers and his team have been working hard to groom the course for this weekend’s caliber of play. Tree trimming, improving areas of the course, and replanting grass have all been part of the preparation. 

Eilers said by securing this tournament, he believes the course is getting close to the championship course they want it to be. A higher rough cut, the trees and faster greens have all been factored in to making the BMGC challenging.

“It will probably be set up fairly challenging,” Swenson said. 

Pin placements, he added, will need to be carefully placed.

“We have to be careful where place them on the old nine because there’s a lot of sloping (on those greens),” he said. 

Another visible upgrade to the course are new cart paths, which has been made possible through community donations and volunteer efforts by course staff and Brandon Golf Association members.

“We have one hole left that won’t get done before the tournament,” Swenson said. 

Tournament golfers will play 54 holes over three days and following Friday and Saturday play, the top 20 will advance to Sunday’s championship flight. Swenson said golfers will be flighted according to their scores. 

Prize money will be paid out in shop credit, he said.

“So economically, it’s a boost for the course,” he said. “It’s going to be good for the course in terms of revenue as well as exposure.”

Another added feature to the weekend tournament is the hit the No. 18 green contest from the patio on Saturday.