Pine to Palm...
(An article contribution by Ralph
Anderson)
The
Pine to Palm Golf Tournament, one of
three so-called Minnesota “resort
circuit” tourneys, is held annually
at the Detroit Country Club’s Pine
to Palm course.
In
recent years, the Pine to Palm also
has had a division for play on the
Lake View golf course, located
across the county road from the Pine
to Palm Course, which is an 18-hole
layout that plays to a par of
31-33-64. The Pine to Palm course
has a 36-35-71.
First
held in 1931, the Pine to Palm is
the youngest of the three “resort
circuit” tourneys, which also
includes the Birchmont International
at Bemidji and the Resorters at
Alexandria.
For the
most part, the tournaments have been
held in consecutive weeks, first the
Birchmont, then the Resorters and
then the Pine to Palm.
Pat
Sawyer, on of Minnesota’s leading
amateur players at the time, won the
championship in the first two pine
to Palm tourneys and defeated his
brother (Dick) in the 1932 champion
match. Sawyer bested Edgar Bolstad
in the first Pine to Palm final in
1931 and Bolstad is also a familiar
golf name in the state. Edgar’s
brother (Les Bolstad) was a longtime
head men’s golf coach at the
University of Minnesota.
McLean Wins...
In
recent years, one of the best-known
Pine to Palm champions is James
McLean.
McLean, whose home is at Wahgunjah,
Victoria, Australia, defeated Mike
Podolak in the 1998 Pine to Palm
final to complete an excellent
season.
Earlier
in the year, McLean had won the NCAA
Division I individual championship
at the University of Minnesota and
then added the Minnesota State
Amateur and the Minnesota State Open
championship to his list of laurels.
Podolak, who lost to McLean in the
finals, is one of the Pine to Palm’s
all-time best performers.
Now
playing out of Oxbow, N.D., Podolak
has also won two Pine to Palm titles
(1982-93), has been the tournament
runner-up three times and has been
the tournament medallist or shared
the medal laurel seven times.
Winner
of numerous North Dakota amateur
championships, Podolak also won the
United States Mid-amateur
championship when the event was
contested at the Atlanta Athletic
Club in Duluth, Ga., in 1984.
That
earned Podolak a berth on the 1985
U. S. Walker Cup team and Podolak
helped the US golfers post a victory
over the Great Britain-Ireland team
at Pine Valley, N. J. By winning the
U. S. Mid-amateur, Podolak also
earned a spot in the field for the
1985 Masters Tournament at Augusta,
Ga.
Podolak
holds the best Pine to Palm win-loss
record, which is 66-17.
Ken Pinns...
In
detailing Pine to Palm history, the
name Ken Pinns always comes up.
That’s
because Pinns – in 1965- achieved a
feat that nobody else has ever
accomplished.
Pinns
won the championships of the three
“resort circuit” tourneys all in the
same year. He scored 16 consecutive
match play victories and defeated
Keith Jorde of Hereford, Tx. (5 and
4) on the Birchmont final, topped
Neil Croonquist of Minneapolis
(1-up) to win the Resorters
championship and capped his string
with a 1-up win over Dave Hanten of
Huron, SD at the Pine to Palm.
In
winning the three titles, Pinns
scored five victories each in the
Birchmont and Resorters tourneys and
six at he Pine to Palm. This is
because the title flight is made up
of 32 golfers at Bemidji and
Alexandria and is made up of 64 at
Detroit Lakes.
Three Timers...
Five
golfers have the distinction of
winning the Pine to Palm Tournament
championship three times each.
They
include Virgil Roby (1933-34-35),
Jack Rule (1958-59-60), Bill Von
Wald (1973-74-75), Bill Israelson
(1976-77-80) and Jim Strandemo
(1983-87-89).
Rule,
who won his three titles when the
championship flight consisted of 32
players, gained the finals in 1961
before losing to Dayton Olson and
established a record of 19
successive victories.
That
was ended in the next decade when
Von Wald won three straight times,
when the title flight consisted of
64 players, and reached the
semifinal round in 1976 before
losing. He won 22 straight title
flight matches, a Pine to Palm
record.
Strandemo, one of the three-time
champions, holds the record for the
most successive championship flight
appearances at the Pine to Palm. He
played in the tournament for the
first time in 1973, qualified for
the championship flight that year
and made it every year until losing
out in a championship flight playoff
in 1999.
Pine to Palm Notes...
John
Harris, winner of the Pine to Palm
title in 1972, won the 1993 U. S.
Men’s Amateur championship and has
announced that he will play on the
U. S. Senior Tour starting this
year.
Tom
Lehman, winner of the British Open
championship in 1996, was the Pine
to Palm medallist in 1980. He lost
in the second round of the match
play that year to Jeff Teal, who was
a University of Minnesota golf team
member with Lehman.
The
Pine to Palm senior Division was
added to the tournament in 1967 and
has proven to be an increasingly
more popular part of the tourney
with each passing year.
Collegiate golfers have won the Pine
to palm championship in six of the
last seven years. They are mark
Halverson (University of Minnesota)
in 1995, Laine Brantner (University
of Iowa) in 1996, Bill Thompson
(University of Minnesota) in 1997,
James McLean (University of
Minnesota) in 1998 and Andy Doeden
(Texas Christian University) in 1999
and 2001.
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