Christmas 17—Tanner Angelstad knew exactly what he had to do on the 18th hole at Legacy Golf in Faribault on June 15.
Angelstad needed a par on the final hole of a qualifying tournament in order to earn his first-ever berth into the state’s most prestigious amateur golf championship, the Minnesota Golf Association State Amateur.
“It was really cool to come down to 18 and I was right on the cut line,” Angelstad said. “I had to make a par to stay on the cut and not have a playoff.”
His hopes took a small hit when he missed the green with his approach shot. But, true to form, the 2021 Kenyon-Wanamingo High School graduate — who was the Section 1A medalist as a senior — calmly chipped onto the green, then drained a not-so-simple 6-foot par putt to lock up a spot in the State Am.
“It wasn’t a tap-in,” he said with a laugh, when asked about the 6-footer that helped him finish in a three-way tie for seventh place out of 80 golfers in the qualifier at The Legacy. “It was just going through the process I’ve always had with putts like that, and going through the same routine.
“It’s nice to think back on all the 6-footers you’ve made in your life and be confident in knowing it’s not the hardest putt in the world.”
As soon as the putt dropped, Angelstad was able to breathe a sigh of relief and think about who he’d get to call immediately with the news: his grandmother, the one who’d relayed all of the stories to Tanner about how his great -grandfather, Bob Finseth, was an avid player in his time. Finseth finished as the runner-up at the State Amatuer in 1964, when he pushed Bob Barbarossa to 37 holes in the final.
“Golf is a big family thing for us,” Angelstad said. “My dad plays, my grandpa played and my great-grandpa played. It was big news to my grandma when she found out I’d qualified.
“I didn’t know my great-grandpa at all, but I have heard all the stories.”
The Minneapolis Golf Club won’t be entirely new to Angelstad when he steps on to the tee box at 1:20 pm today for his first round in the three-day, 54-hole championship. He played a practice round at the Donald Ross-designed course on Thursday and liked the way it fit his game.
“Sometimes in the golf world, players will like a certain architect instead of liking certain courses,” Angelstad said. “I really enjoy the design of the course. It’s a great track. The greens are very similar to Kenyon (Country Club). They’re back-to-front greens, something I’m used to.”
The course plays to 7,045 yards, which isn’t overly long for the state’s top players, but the course safeguards itself with some obstacles that will prove challenging.
“It isn’t the longest course around,” Angelstad said, “so it wasn’t too hard to get around, but when courses like that aren’t that (long), they usually have tree-lined fairways and fast greens. “
Angelstad — who plays college golf at Carthage College, a Division III school in Kenosha, Wis. — prepared for the State Amateur by playing in another of the state’s most prestigious events last week, the Minnesota State Open. That championship, which was held at Oak Ridge Country Club in Hopkins, is open to professionals and amateurs.
Angelstad didn’t make the cut — only 64 players out of 156 in the field made the cut for the final round of the three-round championship — but savored the experience of playing with golfers who make their living on the course.
“I played my practice round there with two pros, then played both of my tournament rounds with two pros,” said Angelstad, who shot 79-76—155 at the State Open. “It was really cool to see how people at the next level go about playing a course.”
Angelstad placed 15th in the Class A state meet as a senior — “that was a great experience after having my junior (season) canceled because of COVID,” he said — then moved on to Carthage, where he had a 78.58 scoring average as a freshman in 2022 before improving that average to 77.6 this year as a sophomore.
He earned All-College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin honors this year, placing seventh in the CCIW postseason meet.
“I think, purely looking at my scoring average shows it,” he said when asked about how his game has improved while playing college golf. “It’s the things you see but don’t really recognize. It’s hitting more greens, hitting more fairways and making more putts.”
While he has two years remaining in his college career, Angelstad — a business management major — has often thought about how he could have a career in the game he loves most.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to play after school,” he said. “I could see myself working in the golf industry in the future. If that opportunity comes up, I’ll definitely take it.”
Other local golfers who have qualified for the State Amateur championship include: Rob Amundson (Northern Hills, Rochester); Cecil Belisle (Red Wing Golf Club); Eric Deutsch (Rochester Golf & Country Club); Kyle Hickey (RGCC); Nick Jarrett (Somerby Golf Club, Byron); Anders Larson (Pine Island Golf Course); Ben Meyer (Austin Country Club); Tim Sexton (RGCC); and Dan Trainor (Somerby).
Complete tee-times list for the 2023 State Amateur