Christner scrambles his way around Erskine Park to win first Men’s Metro title

SOUTH BEND — It was anything but a walk in the park for Austin Christner in winning the 100 ^th Greater South Bend Men’s Metro Golf Tournament Sunday at Erskine Park.

In a performance that would have impressed even the master scrambler of golf champions himself — the late Severiano Ballesteros of Spain — the 28-year-old Christner used up every bit of Erskine Park’s 5,940 yards — and then some — to fashion a closing one-over-par 71 for a one-over-par total of 285 and a two-stroke victory over fellow Mishawaka golfer Jonah Kumfer.

“It was after last year (when he finished fifth behind champion Satchel Pierce) that I really started to believe I could win this,” said Christner, who started taking up golf seriously in 2018 after playing tennis at both Fairfield High School and Indiana Wesleyan.

Saturday: Christner leads Kumfer by 1, Wiseman by 4 as Men’s Metro is set to conclude Sunday

Sunday, Christner started with a one-stroke lead over Kumfer, a former Penn High standout who is now the leading player for Bethel University entering his senior year, and he was four strokes ahead over two-time Men’s Metro (2003, 2005) champion Kevin Wiseman.

Christner never lost the lead even though he seemingly had more adventures Sunday than Frodo Baggins, one of the protagonists of “The Lord of Rings.” Christner, who didn’t hit a fairway until the ninth hole, finished with five fairways hit. He totaled 28 putts in his round which included eight one-putt greens, five to save pars.

“Austin deserved it — he played good shots when he needed to; the results speak for themselves,” said the 21-year-old Kumfer, who played despite a sore middle finger on his left hand that was drained of an infection Saturday night but still shot 72 for 287.

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Kumfer’s play certainly impressed Christner. “He’s a super consistent player,” the new champ said. “We definitely pushed each other; he definitely pushed me. I knew if I made a mistake, he could take advantage.”

Kumfer, who was third a year ago, just couldn’t get over the hump.

“My play was good in areas and bad in areas,” said Kumfer, who had one birdie, three bogeys and 14 pars. “I was pretty good off the tee; when it came to wedges I was terrible, and my putting was average. I struggled to get used to these greens.”

Kumfer, though, was three strokes better than two-time Men’s Metro champion Kevin Wiseman, who won his titles in 2003 as a Riley High standout and in 2005 as a member of the Notre Dame golf team. Wiseman, now a 42-year-old orthodontist in Chicago, closed with a 72 in his first Metro appearance since his college days ended.

For the tournament’s 100 ^th anniversary, the committee invited all past champions, no matter where they lived, to return and Wiseman was among those who did.

“I grew up about a mile from Erskine and played here a lot; I knew a lot of the players like (past champions) Adam Darrow, Ken Wilkinson Jr. and Brandon (Knutson),” Wiseman said. “We had a lot of competitive tournaments. Now it’s nice to see a new batch of players coming up. Austin was amazing today — he was clutch all day and made some great putts for par.”

Christner led after each round and his performance might have been wire-to-wire except that Wiseman led Saturday late before he bogeyed and double-bogeyed his 16 ^th and 17 ^th holes of the day – Erskine’s Nos. 7 and 8.

“For about 15-18 years, I was playing just five rounds of golf a year while I was studying and getting my practice going,” Wiseman said. “This year I got to play in a couple of invitationals and have been playing a little bit more, so I decided to give this a shot.”

Christner, who started the day with a one-shot lead over Kumfer and four shots over Wiseman, took a two-stroke lead over Kumfer after making birdie at the par-5 fifth. Wiseman, who birdied the first hole, never really threatened after back-to-back bogeys at Nos. 2 and 3.

At the turn despite hitting just one fairway, Christner was two up on Kumfer and five ahead of Wiseman. A birdie at the 585-yard 10 ^th hole increased the Christner lead over Kumfer to three strokes.

At the par-4 12 ^th , Christner tried to drive the 315-yard hole but ended up in front of the cart path to the par-3 fourth hole. He managed to wedge his shot back onto the green and two-putted from 30 feet, making a five-footer to save par.  Kumfer followed with a bogey at the par-4 13 ^th and Christner led by four strokes with five holes to play.

Back-to-back Christner bogeys at Nos. 14 and 15 shrunk the lead to two strokes going to the par-5, 475-yard 16 ^th hole where the late John Wooden, the golf-playing basketball coach of South Bend Central and UCLA fame, once made a double-eagle two in a 1939 round of 75 that also included an ace at No. 6.

Christner was just off the 16th green in two, chipped on and sank a five-footer for the birdie to match Kumfer, who remained two behind but was running out of holes. The margin remained there as the two matched bogeys at 17 and pars at 18. After handshakes from Kumfer and Wiseman, fiancée Meg Gabbard, who caddied and will become Christner’s wife on New Year’s Eve, celebrated with a kiss.

“This is an exciting year for me, for sure,” Christner smiled after looking at the A.R. Erskine Memorial Trophy and all of its past 99 winners. “I would have never guessed when I first got into golf … this is so cool.”

Two-time champion (2018, 2019) Ben Szklarek, whose hopes for a third were blown away by Saturday’s seven-over 77, shot a closing 71. The former Penn High standout who now lives and works in suburban Chicago, finished tied for fourth place with South Bend’s Brandon Thomas at 14-over 298 after Thomas closed with a 72.

Evan Smith shot a final-round 76 for a 22-over total of 306 to win the A-flight title by two strokes over Robert Rogers (77). Mishawaka Marian golfer Jacob Padrnos shot an 83 for a 52-over-par total of 336 that edged out Carlos Loaiza and David Fulcher for the B-flight title. Don Bedock closed with an 81 for a 41-over total of 325 and a six-stroke win over Fred Williams in C flight.

100 ^th GREATER SOUTH BEND MEN’S METRO GOLF TOURNAMENT

Results after Sunday’s final round at the par-70 Erskine Park Golf Course. Par for four rounds is 284 (72 at Elbel Park July 20; 72 at Knollwood East July 21; 70 at Erskine Park July 27; 70 at Erskine Park July 28):

Championship flight (5,940 yards)

285 (+1): Austin Christner 70-74-70-71.

287 (+3): Jonah Kumfer 72-74-69-72.

290 (+6): Kevin Wiseman 74-74-70-72.

298 (+14): Brandon Thomas 75-79-72-72; Ben Szklarek 77-73-77-71.

304 (+20): John Hahn 79-81-71-73.

312 (+28): Benjamin Mattingly 84-75-76-77.

314 (+30): Rick Hardesty 77-78-79-80.

320 (+36): Mark Harman 76-80-82-82.

322 (+38): Sean Egan 85-78-81-78.

329 (+45): Campbell Jones 85-77-82-85.

331 (+47): Ryan Glover 84-84-80-83; Brandon Roman 87-88-77-79.

334 (+50): Leo Goss 73-87-88-86.

337 (+53): Andrew Katona 82-84-85-86.

361 (+77): Stan Gebo 88-89-91-93.

Others: Chris Shaw 74-79-76-WD.

A flight (5,667 yards)

306 (+22): Evan Smith 77-80-73-76.

308 (+24): Robert Rogers 76-83-72-77.

314 (+30): Andrew Kowalewski 75-72-87-80.

316 (+32): Mark Colpaert 84-81-73-78.

317 (+33): Ben Padrnos 83-80-78-76; Matt Schiele 80-81-77-79.

319 (+35): Jeff Oltmanns 77-86-80-76; Doug Fedore 81-84-77-77.

324 (+40): Jim Shaw 85-82-82-75.

327 (+43): Andy Vavul 82-85-80-80.

329 (+45): Scott Frederickson 83-85-80-81.

334 (+50): Taylor Urbanski 81-86-82-85.

335 (+51): Joseph Daigle 78-87-81-89.

337 (+53): John Sevison 83-82-81-91.

340 (+56): Cam Nickell 83-93-80-84.

348 (+64): Dallas Shultz 80-88-88-92.

360 (+76): Zack Cripe 86-96-85-93.

Others: Ben Brewers 84-93-89-WD; Nicholas Johnson 90-88-88-WD.

B flight (5,667 yards)

336 (+52): Jacob Padrnos 80-82-91-83.

337 (+53): Carlos Loaiza 81-84-82-90; David Fulcher 85-88-80-84.

341 (+57): Nick Bishop 89-87-84-81.

343 (+59): Craig Eggers 85-92-82-84; David Krizman 83-85-87-88.

346 (+62): Kenny Bishop 80-86-88-92; Jamie Lucas 88-86-87-85.

348 (+64): Brian Patterson 91-87-87-83.

349 (+65): Andy Williams 87-89-90-83.

351 (+67): Alan Smith 88-88-90-85; Matt Potter 89-85-86-91.

352 (+68): Brian Carver 90-85-88-89.

354 (+70): Adam Urbanski 94-89-86-85.

357 (+73): Mark Haab 94-85-89-89.

359 (+75): Thomas Butler 84-91-94-90.

360 (+76): Carl Daniels 90-94-86-90.

361 (+77): Quinlan Armstrong 87-92-89-93.

364 (+80): Jeff Steele 93-97-83-91.

366 (+82): James Potter 98-96-85-87.

372 (+88): Jason Quimby 92-92-95-93.

380 (+96): Joey Garcia 95-102-94-89.

Others: Jim Van Fleit Sr. 77-89-87-WD.

C flight (5,289 yards)

325 (+41): Don Bedock 84-84-76-81.

331 (+47): Fred Williams 79-87-81-84.

341 (+57): Tony Bailey 80-96-81-84.

356 (+72): Scott Tafelski 90-87-86-93.

357 (+73): Christian Pottschmidt 90-86-89-92.

358 (+74): Travis Truex 89-94-88-87.

359 (+75): John Garcia 89-85-91-94.

362 (+78): Roger Moreno 94-90-93-85; Geoffrey Davidson 89-90-90-93.

365 (+81): Alexander Walters 95-97-84-89; Duke Bailey 91-92-92-90; Gary May 88-96-90-91.

369 (+85): James Parker 91-97-91-90.

372 (+88): Ricky Entzian 92-90-95-95.

373 (+89): William Gaideski 86-106-83-98.

375 (+91): John Parakowski 94-89-100-92.

380 (+96): Jerry Barnette 98-93-94-95.

382 (+98): Keith Hodgson 98-101-93-90.

385 (+101): Andrew Mars 96-98-94-87.

386 (+102): Vincent Barnette 96-95-102-93.

388 (+104): Aaron Rhame 95-95-95-103.

390 (+106): Jeffrey Barouska 90-98-101-101.

393 (+109): Shawn Pinnyei 103-94-104-92.

394 (+110): Jake Brentlinger 105-98-97-94.

395 (+111): Chase Nichols 102-101-95-97.

411 (+127): Mike Strausborger 99-110-101-101.

416 (+132): Alex Sexton 97-116-103-100.

Others: Coen Coen 106-108-102-DQ.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: Christner scrambles his way around Erskine Park to win first Men’s Metro title