NDSU grad wins state am at Minnesota Valley

Nate Deziel made a one-stroke lead stick to win the 121st Minnesota Golf Association Amateur Championship on July 17 in Bloomington.

The former North Dakota State golfer who won the Summit League title in 2022 cannot only add amateur champion but, with the win at Minnesota Valley Country Club, also secure his place in next month’s United States Amateur at Hazeltine National, which is a nice bonus.

Deziel, 24, put together three great rounds to post the winning score at 11-under 208 using rounds of 66, 70 and 72.

“Speechless, really,” Deziel said when asked about qualifying for the U.S. Am. “I’ve been thinking about it all summer long, and now I won’t have to go play in the qualifying site at Dakotah Ridge.

He had three options to secure a spot at Hazeltine from either the Dakotah Ridge qualifier, the state amateur championship or the North Dakota Stroke Play.

“This is by far the coolest (option) on a sweet course like this against a handful of guys I know,” he said.

Record

The opening round 7-under 66 set a new course record of the new layout to give him confidence, carrying him through the remaining 36 holes.

With an afternoon tee time, Deziel missed the weather delay earlier in the opening round. His concern was trying to keep his hands dry because everything was wet from the high temperatures and humidity in the air.

“I was able to see all my shots, execute, and then be on top of that roll in a few putts, and I think that was pretty special,” Deziel said.

Maintaining that composure over two more rounds to wins took something special.

“Backing up two rounds after that will always be difficult,” he said. “You can never expect to go that low again, but stick to your game plan.”

Part of that plan for the first round was to make putts. He did that with eight more from outside his normal range. Knowing it would be tough to replicate this again over the final 34 holes, Deziel was consistent with his mindset to keep going.

“Something is going to fall, and I was very fortunate on the back nine yesterday and today with similar results,” he said.

After a few mistakes on the front of the second round on July 16, Deziel stayed calm, knowing there would be chances to make up ground.

“I rode the ship there knowing the back nine had plenty of opportunity (to shoot low scores). Let’s try giving ourselves nine looks, and I had all nine birdie opportunities, which was awesome,” he said.

He ran into trouble again on the opening nine with a 2-over par score and made it a point to check the leaderboard in the 11th hole.

“I had to check after my double (bogey) to see if I needed to push or not,” Deziel said, as he typically follows along on the scoreboards, which he believes can help or hurt in the long run.

“It was eating away at me so bad, so I took a quick peek,” he said. “I knew I was at 7 (under) and was expecting to be three or four back. When I saw I was two back, I thought, ‘Okay. Calm down, let’s get back to the basics again.”

He had a good look at birdie from inside 15 feet on hole 12, followed that up with a 2-putt for par on 13 and made a statement on the 14th. “I found a nice yardage after finding the fairway and hit it to 4 feet. I capitalized and settled down to play my game from 15 on, which was really cool.”

Contention

The East Grand Forks native made four birdies over the final five holes to earn a three-stroke win. A five-way share for runner-up at 211 includes Nate Stevens (Northland Golf Club, Notre Dame), Cecil Belisle (Red Wing Golf Course, two-time MGA Players’ champion), Matt Armstrong (Stoneridge Golf Club, 2023 Minnesota Public Golf Association State Public Links champion), Maxwell Tylke (Legends Club, 2021 MGA Players’ champion) and Carson Herron (Wayzata Country Club).

Josh Galvin (Moorhead Country Club) and Jon DuToit (Chaska Town Course) carded rounds of 212 to share seventh place. Tying for ninth place at 213 were Jacques Wilson (Chaska Town Course), Sam Udovich (Southview Country Club) and Bryce Hanstad (Olympic Hills Golf Club).

After two rounds, the field was narrowed from 154 golfers to the top 60 scores for the final round.

Deziel played in 40 career events at NDSU, winning twice, and is eighth on the career scoring average list with a 73.85.

Last year, Caleb VanArragon became the first player in a quarter-century to capture the Minnesota State Open and MGA Amateur Championship in the same year. Herron nearly repeated the feat.

When asked about this recent stretch for the New Mexico Lobos golfer, Herron responded in an MGA press release: “Overall, the last two weeks have been great. I couldn’t wish for much better playing in good fields and shooting good scores.”

Recap

Deziel opened the final round on July 17 with a pair of bogeys off the front nine but really found a rhythm on the back, as he did all tournament. This time, he closed with a 3-under 34, making five birdies despite a four-putt double bogey on the 225-yard Par-3 11th, which could have derailed his title chase.

He began the final nine holes with a two-putt birdie on the Par-5 10th hole to take sole possession of the lead.

Deziel regrouped after the double bogey to play spectacular golf down the stretch, especially around the green and putting. He made a 6-foot putt at the 14th to grab a share of the lead before a 4-foot birdie on the 16th hole to regain sole possession.

He saved par on the 17th with a chip within inches of the hole to stay two strokes clear of the field heading on the tee at 18.

He secured the win by rolling in a birdie putt from five feet for his third state championship.

After the course-record opening round, Deziel had a pair of bogeys early in the second round on Tuesday. He overcame the struggle with four birdies over the final 11 holes to post a 3-over 70. He was one stroke ahead of last week’s Minnesota State Open winner (Rush Creek) and University of New Mexico senior Carson Herron, who has been on a fantastic string of golf this summer.

Deziel rolled in a 20-footer for a birdie at the 10th to reach 8-under for the tournament before a tap-in birdie at 15. His approach on 17 landed within six feet and birdied the final hole to remain on top at 10-under 136.

Following the round, the 2018 Minnesota Junior PGA Tournament of Champions winner said in a press release from the MGA: “I’m going to go to bed and then rinse and repeat.”

The quote was accurate as the old saying goes about cleaning something – wash, rinse, repeat.

A broken finger last Fourth of July limited Deziel to just six rounds of golf before resuming play in September.

He spent the winter caddying in Arizona at Whisper Rock as a way to work and continue to play golf in the winter before returning home for the golf season to begin in Minnesota.

“You can’t beat the summers around here, and in general, there is no better place to be in the summer than here,” Deziel said, who was a hockey and baseball player for most of his childhood.

He thanked Minnesota Valley for the top-notch condition of the course, the MGA for putting on an event he always looks forward to being a part of and for the spectators who walked the course alongside the players all week.

“Thank you for all of the claps, the woo-hoos; let’s go and all of that stuff; it really does make the atmosphere that much more enjoyable,” he said while standing in front of the scoreboard with the trophy in hand.

Notables

Eight former MGA Amateur champions were in the field, including T45. Jesse Bull (2014) 4-over; T56. Dave Carothers (2017) 6-over; Cut Eric Deutsch (2004); T7. Jon DuToit (2015) 7-under; T18. Ben Greve (2022) 3-under; T9. Bryce Handstad (2007) 6-under; CUT Clay Kucera (2019) and T12. Trent Peterson (2008) 5-under.

Minnesota Valley members each missed the two-round cut: Jimmy Abdo (77-73), Patrick Dockendorf (76-80), Lincoln Cizek (76-81), and Bob Mason (79-79).

Former Kennedy golfer and Wisconsin-Eau Claire senior Corey Boerner tied for 35th place with a 2-over 221 after carding rounds of 75, 73 and 73.