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Sudengas break through during M-G tourney

By John RittenhouseA set of brothers rallied on Saturday to win the Member-Guest Quota Tournament played at the Luverne Country Club Friday and Saturday.Member Jeremy Sudenga and his guest, Jason Sudenga, of Sioux Falls, scored 16 quota points on the final day of the tournament to win the championship by four points.The Sudengas needed to play solid golf on Saturday to win their first M-G title as a team. The brothers appeared to be out of the running for a title when they scored four quota points on Friday, but they blew away the field while scoring a tournament-high 16 points on Saturday.It looked like member George McDonald and guest Bob Fiechtner, Fargo, N.D., would be the team to beat after 18 holes of play Friday.McDonald and Fiechtner tallied 15 points on Friday to sport a two-point lead over member Dave Gangestad and guest Doug Hart, Spencer, Iowa, who combined efforts to score 13 points.Member Tom Klein and guest Steve Elias, of Adrian, were in third place with 12 points on Friday. Member Darwin Elbers and guest Mike Pap (Sioux Falls), and member Nate Golla and guest John Kvamme (Pipestone) were four points off the pace with 11 counters. Member Dan McGuire and guest Mark Iveland (Lincoln, Neb.) also were within striking distance with 10 points.Saturday proved to be a rough day for the McDonald-Fiechtner, Gangestad-Hart, Elbers-Pap and Golla-Kvamme teams. All of the squads finished the second round with negative points, knocking them out of the title contention.That opened the door for the Sudengas, who followed their four-point effort on Friday with a 16-point performance on Saturday and a tournament-high total of 20 points.Other than the Sudengas, only two other teams scored more than 10 points on Saturday. Member Dan Kindt and guest Dave Kindt (Bruce, S.D.) scored 12 points on Saturday. Member Nate Skattum and guest Matt Skattum (Marshall) scored 11 and one-half points during Saturday’s second round.Klein and Elias proved to be the Sudenga’s biggest challengers. They followed their 12-point effort on Friday with four points Saturday, giving them 16 points for the tournament and a second-place finish.The Skattums, who scored three points on Friday, earned a share of third place with member Pat Strassburg and guest Andy Noll (Fairmont) by scoring 11 and one-half points on Saturday for a total of 14 and one-half points. Strassburg and Noll scored seven points on Friday and seven and one-half points on Saturday.McGuire and Iveland added three points on Saturday to their 10-point effort on Friday to place fifth with 13 points.Saturday’s comeback erased a pair of disappointing finishes in recent years for the Sudengas.Jason Sudenga formed a team with then member Cory Norman that won the 1999 championship, but he was unable to win the title after joining forces with his brother in recent years, which included a pair of tournament appearances that left the team feeling snake-bitten.In 2003, the Sudengas lost a one-hole sudden-death playoff to Don and Tom Cashin. That heartbreaking event came after another sudden-death playoff loss to Tim Knoll and Al Connell in 2002.Both Sudengas earned individual awards for their performances during the Quota Tournament.Jason Sudenga shot a gross 147, giving him second place in the low-gross standings behind Iveland, who shot a 141 to win that award.Member Dan Serie placed third with a gross 151, Adrian’s Dean Elias (guest of Denny Holtrop) was fourth with a 153, and Andy Noll and member Tim Connell shared fifth place with 155s.Jeremy Sudenga shared fourth place with Rogers’ Jim Walker, the guest of Mike Haakenson, in the low-net standings. Both players shot net 140s.Gangestad emerged as the low-net champion with his net 132. Benson’s Michael Forsberg, the guest of Ray Marszalowicz, placed second with a net 135. Todd Iverson, the guest of Dave Iverson, placed third with a net 138.Member Gary Golla and Andy Noll teamed up to win The Derby title on Friday.The Derby is a nine-hole event consisting of teams made up of the members and guests who shot the lowest gross rounds during the first 18 holes of play in the Quota Tournament. Ten teams start the event, and one team is eliminated after each hole.Golla and Iverson and a team consisting of member Steve Smedsrud and Todd Iverson were the last two squads in contention for the title after eight holes of play in The Derby.Both teams made bogeys on the ninth hole, which set up a chip-off between the guest members of each team. Noll won the chip-off against Iverson.

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