Riihinen completes the 3-peat; Bollant wins second senior title

HIBBING—It was a battle between a 7-time winner and a three-time winner looking to 3-peat, so it had to go down to the wire, right?

It did as Derek Rolle and Ryan Riihinen squared off for the 97th annual Vern Fryklund Northwest Invitational.

When everything was said and done, Riihinen got his 3-peat with a 1-up win over Rolle Monday at the Mesaba Country Club.

The last time Rolle won a title was 2017. He also had wins in 2009, 2008, 2006, 2004, 2003, 2002 and 2001.

Riihinen’s titles came in 2019, 2022 and 2023.

Riihinen is the second person to 3-peat as Lawrence David won titles in 1933, 34 and 35.

Riihinen had to take this one to the limit.

“It was the toughest that I could have imagined,” Riihinen said. “Going into it and not playing so much, there was a lot of rust to knock off. Today, it was a huge battle. I was fighting all sorts of issues, my driver, my putting.

“I figured out a way to work around some of those issues. I made a lot of pars today.”

Riihinen also had to come from behind to win.

Rolle was 2-up at the turn.

“We were both playing great at first, then we hit a few holes on the back nine where we struggled a bit, here and there,” Riihinen said. “Hats off to Derick. He played unbelievable for that first half there.

“He must have been 4-under-par or something like that. That’s exactly what you want out of a championship match. I was fortunate to come out on top.”

Riihinen got even with Rolle halfway through the back nine, taking a 1-up lead after the 16th hole.

Rolle came back to win the 17th hole to make the match all-square, then came the crucial 18th hole.

Riihinen hit his drive deep into the weeds on the right side of the hole by the 10th tee box, while Rolle hit his drive under some trees on the left.

“That one was all nerves,” Riihinen said. “That’s the thing that keeps you coming back, too. The whole competitive nature, feeling that nervousness on the last tee. It’s a part of the game.

“I unfortunately ended up in the weeds, but I was able to recover nicely out of a bad lie.”

Riihinen went into the waist-high weeds, and somehow, some way found his way out of trouble by hitting the ball just short of the green and left.

“I was very surprised by that,” Riihinen said. “When I found it at first, whoever it was that found it, it was covered by weeds. It was very lucky to have found it, otherwise it would have been a different story.”

Rolle had to find a way out of the trees.

His low shot hit the trunk of a tree, then went at a 90-degree angle out-of-bounds.

Riihinen got his ball on the green in three, while Rolle was on in five.

Riihinen hit his putt just past the hole, and that was just enough to make Rolle conceded the hole and the match.

It wasn’t how Riihinen wanted to win, but he was glad that he got win No. 4.

“Finishing bogey, bogey, bogey in the championship match, usually that doesn’t get you enough to win the title,” Riihinen said. “I was fortunate to have come out on top.”

Senior Championship Flight

Joe Bollant won his first Senior title in 2022, then Scott Rauvola garnered first place in 2023.

Bollant wanted to make it two-out-of-three, and the Buffalo native defeated Chris McGauley 1-up on the 18th hole.

Winning is nice, but Bollant likes everything about the Northwest.

“It’s emotional,” Bollant said. “We look forward to this all year. We will be coming to this tournament as long as I’m alive. The level of competition is so good, but the Riihinen’s, we love each of the Riihinen boys, and how we’ve gotten to know so many people up here.

“The same goes for the guys that run this tournament. They’ve been doing that for 97 years. It’s humbling.”

Bollant felt fortunate to be in the finals.

His first match in the flight wasn’t going so well early on.

“I was playing Jeff Cowling, who is a great, great Hibbing player,” Bollant said. “He’s a seven-time club and senior club champion. I was 4-down with five holes to go in the first match.

“I came back and won on an extra hole. I played a heck of a match in the semifinal against Cory Fairchild. I have to give him a shoutout. What a player. I had nine one putts through 16 holes.”

Bollant did have a 2-up lead against McGauley, but McGauley came back to all-square the match, evening the match with a birdie on the 15th hole.

Bollant, undeterred, would birdie the 16th hole to go 1-up, which held the rest of the way.

McGauley evened the match up on the 15th hole with a birdie, then Bollant made a birdie on the 17th hole to go 1-up.

“Christopher pushed me,” Bollant said. “I got up, then we were all-square.He stuck it in there on 15, almost getting a hole-in-one, so we were all-square after 15. I birdied 16 to get back 1-up, then we both got pars on 17.

“That is humbling that things shined and worked out. I’m humbled, but I played incredibly golf today, some of the best golf I’ve played. I look forward to coming back.”