PREP GOLF: Pelzel, Hall make history

MARSHALL — Both Cory Pelzel and Brady Hall were looking for a piece of history.

Entering the Section 3A boys’ golf meet, no Southwestern United or Southwest Star Concept golfer had ever advanced past the section meet.

That all changed in a few hours on Friday.

Pelzel fired a 76 and Hall carded a 78, as both players qualified for the state tournament.

“I’m really happy,” Pelzel said. “We’re the first people in SSC history to ever make it past the section meet. And my teammate, Brady, gets to go with me, so that will be really special. I can’t really believe it right now, but give it a little bit of time and it will sink in after a while.”

Hall was one of the final players who qualified individually from Friday’s meet.

“It’s a big relief,” Hall said. “I’m taking the weekend off, that’s what I’m doing. I’m going to relax this weekend and enjoy the long weekend.”

Springfield’s Dillon Schultz chipped in from a few feet off the green for a birdie on his last hole for a round of 69 and medalist honors.

“Dillon Schultz amazes me; he is a good golfer,” Hall said. “He has one of the coaches up at Dakotah Ridge. There are two coaches at Dakotah Ridge, and he has one coach and I have the other coach. The two pros up there always talk and say, ‘I bet my kid is going to beat yours.’”

Springfield finished with a 324 to win the meet and qualify for the state tournament.

Windom was second with a 336, while Westbrook-Walnut Grove was third with a 340. Wabasso was fourth with a 351.

“I was hoping Springfield was going to win for sure, so then Dillon’s score was out of there,” Hall said. “That ending up happening and then (Windom’s Jared) Heger came in with a good round and I was impressed by that. That made it topsy-turvy.”

Heger shot a 73 for the Eagles on the day.

“I played pretty good, I guess,” Heger said. “It was a lot better than lately. I had just not been hitting greens in my other rounds. (Friday) it just all came together. I was hitting fairways, hitting straight balls and I was putting pretty good, too, which was a change.”

Starting on the back nine, Heger was 2-under heading into No. 18.

That’s when he ran into a little bad luck.

“I hit one club too much and it went long and my ball was sitting on top of a stick,” Heger said. “I really couldn’t do anything about it, so I just kind of wacked it up to the green and I three-putted.”

However, he recovered for a second-place finish.

“I wanted to shoot in the 70s, that’s what I wanted,” Heger said. “I accomplished that. I thought the team would do a lot better. But otherwise, I’m pretty happy.”

Tyler Clark had an 86, while Hunter Johnson finished with an 88 and Adam Eisenmenger had an 89 for Windom.

W-WG was led by Derek Eichner’s 78. Jared Lindaman had an 83, while Patrick Schweim had an 89. Brandon Jenniges also had a scoring round of 90 for the Chargers.

Overall, Pelzel finished third individually.

“I had a couple mistakes in there,” Pelzel said. “I went out of bounds on hole 3. I should have hit hybrid, but I hit driver. It didn’t come back like I thought it was going to, but I had to move on from that.

“I putted really good. I think I had 26 putts on 18 holes, so that’s my personal best for sure. I changed putters right before sub-sections and it’s really working good now.”

Eichner and Hall tied for fourth individually and both will advance.

“I like this course a lot,” Hall said. “My driver, I don’t know what I was doing, but I was doing something right. I don’t think I had a drive under 280 yards and they were right down the middle. I don’t think I had any tree problems the whole round.”

Red Rock Central’s Matt Fox fired an 81, while Hills-Beaver Creek’s Caleb Ellingson finished with an 88 and Southwest Christian’s Dustin Oberloh and Phil Feikema each had an 89. Adrian’s Brian Tjepkes also carded an 89, while SWC’s Kaiser DeKam had a 91.

The Class A state meet will be June 2-5 at Pebble Creek Golf Club in Becker.

“On the first tee I’ll be nervous, but I think I’ll settle in after that,” Hall said. “Just like (Friday) I had a fairly good shot, I hit a tree and ended up in the fairway, but I got it up and down for a bogey.”

While Hall and Pelzel will be making their first appearances at the state meet, Heger has already had the experience.

He was part of the Eagles team that finished second last year. Heger shot an 80 on the only day of competition.

“I know how it will be with the nerves and stuff,” Heger said. “It will be a little different individually, but it will still be pretty fun. It was pretty fun last year.

“There’s no pressure. It’s all for me; I don’t have to have a good score for the team.”

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