Golf: Tylke having a successful summer

Former Eastview High School golfer Max Tylke is leading the Minnesota Golf Association men’s player of the year standings after high finishes in two of the biggest tournaments of the season.

Tylke, who plays out of the Legends Club in Prior Lake, tied for second at the MGA Amateur Championship last week at Minnesota Valley Country Club in Bloomington. He broke par in each of his three rounds on the par-73 layout, including a 68 in the second round. He was one of five players to tie for second at 8 under par, three behind Nate Deziel, a former North Dakota State University player.

Deziel’s victory came with a significant perk — an exemption into the U.S. Amateur Championship to be played Aug. 12-18 at Hazeltine National Golf Club and Chaska Town Course.

Other local players making the cut at the MGA Amateur included former Eagan High School state medalist Trent Peterson, who tied for 12th at 5 under. Peterson won the MGA Mid-Players’ Championship in June, defeating Tylke in the finals of the match-play tournament. Peterson won the MGA Amateur in 2008.

Former Eastview High and current University of South Dakota player Joey Rohlwing was 3 under in the MGA Amateur and tied for 18th. Rohlwing was the Mr. Golf Minnesota award winner in 2023 as the state’s top high school senior player.

Apple Valley resident Justin Burleson tied for 31st at 1 over and Owen Rexing tied for 35th at 2 over. Rexing, a University of St. Thomas player and Rosemount High graduate, was co-medalist in the 2022 state Class 3A tournament.

The week before the MGA Amateur, Tylke tied for second in the Minnesota State Open at Rush Creek Golf Club in Maple Grove. He shot 68-69-69–206 (10 under par) for the 54-hole tournament and reached a playoff with Carson Herron of Wayzata Country Club and defending champion Caleb VanArragon of Bunker Hills. Tylke double-bogeyed the first playoff hole. Herron, whose father Tim plays on the PGA Tour Champions, won the playoff with a birdie on the second extra hole.

MGA Women’s Amateur

Former Lakeville North High School player Emma Welch was tied for second after Monday’s first round of the Minnesota Golf Association Women’s Amateur at Minnewaska Golf Club in Glenwood.

Welch was one of three players at 1-over-par 73 and was two strokes behind first-round leader Madison Hicks, who will be a junior at North Dakota State in the fall. The second and third rounds of the tournament were scheduled Tuesday and Wednesday.