Don Berry of Edinburgh USA shot a final round 1-under par 71 for a 54-hole total of 6-under par 210 to win the 2007 Minnesota PGA Professional Championship at the TPC of the Twin Cities. Dave Tentis was two shots back, followed by Dale Jones of Mendakota.

The three day tournament was held at both the TPC and at Bunker Hills in Coon Rapids (and home to the offices of the Minnesota PGA).

The top seven players advance to the 2008 PGA Professional Championship being held next June at Reynolds Plantation in Georgia.

Here are the qualifiers:

1, Don Berry, Edinburgh USA, 70-69-71-210 (-6), $4,500
2, David Tentis, Troy Burne GC, 71-71-70-212 (-4), $3,500
3, Dale Jones, Mendakota CC, 72-69-74-215 (-1), $2,500
4, John Kendall, Giants Ridge Golf & Ski, 73-71-72-216 (E), $2,000
5, Craig Brischke, Tanners Brook GC, 72-72-73-217 (+1), $1,750
T6, Bill Israelson, Vintage GC, 77-69-72-218 (+2), $1,425
T6, Chris Bailey, Hillcrest G&CC, 78-65-75-218 (+2), $1,425

Full Leaderboard

My 38th consecutive Minnesota State Fair is in the books. Our family had a great time last Sunday–perfect weather, my oldest daughter and I ran our first Milk Run 5K (39:07), we ate great food and I left with money in my pocket.

Food this year included all of the usuals:

• Pronto Pups
• Cheese Curds
• French Fries
• Danielson Onion Rings
• Sweet Martha’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Mac and Cheese on a Stick
• Turkey Sandwich

Picked up our yearly button at the admin building and checked out the great Birawer State Fair print in the fine arts building. Lots of walking, rides and fun stuff (as usual).

More pictures coming soon…

Last weekend we used another silent auction certificate to play 18 holes at Indian Hills Golf Club in Stillwater. This Don Herfort course opened in 1970 and lies hidden just off of Highway 36.

A former co-host of the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am (along with Southview CC), I was anxious to finally see and play this course. Or entire group came away with a very favorable impression–lots of strong, memorable holes, good conditioning and a friendly staff.

The greens were a little slower than the typical Twin Cities private course, but that may have been due to the recent rains more than anything. Several holes were cart path only because of overall sogginess in the fairways.

We played the white tees, which stretched to more than 6,400 yards. A big chunk of that yardage comes at the end of the round in the form of three straight 400+ yard par four holes.

The clubhouse has a bit of a ’70s vibe to it, which was made all the more memorable when the neighbors on the 18th green played Doors songs out the window as we finished in the beautiful Saturday afternoon sunshine.

7MM Indian Hills Photo Gallery
(Note: Our camera had debris in the lens and is visible in some shots)

How could I not eat here? Quick overnight trip to Marshfield, Wisconsin with the family (my wife had meetings at the Marshfield Clinic). Stayed at the Marshfield Holiday Inn and had a blast in their nice pool area with three-story water slide. Driving back this evening…

The last FORE! Minnesota of the season airs Saturday, August 25, 2007 (9 am on KSTC-45):

• Course Tour: Blackberry Ridge GC (Sartell, MN)
• Great Moments in MN Golf: 1916 (US Open, Minikahda CC)
• Stories of Golf: 2007 Tee It Up For The Troops Event (Mendakota CC)
• Tad Reeve’s Dream 18: Somerset #12
• Pro Strategies: Pete Hendrickson (Gopher Hills GC, Cannon Falls)

A few weeks back we used a certificate from Don Berry’s Edinburgh USA Pro-Am silent auction for a foursome at Bent Creek Golf Club in Eden Prairie. The weather was hot, so we basically had the course to ourselves.

Bent Creek is an entertaining course to play. Many of the holes seem easy on the card, but can quickly turn into big numbers on the scorecard. The elevation changes on the front nine provide lots of variety, while water plays a bigger part on the flatter back nine. There was some limited tree damage from the string of storms that have passed through the area recently.

Don Herfort re-designed the course in 1973 and additional changes made in 1990 when course ownership changed hands. As we wrote earlier this year, plans to develop the golf course for other uses have been put on hold by the Eden Prairie city council.

7MM Bent Creek Gallery

The September issue of Golf Magazine has their latest top 100 rankings for U.S. and world courses.

How did Minnesota courses do? Interlachen moved up from #96 on the U.S. list to #72, while Hazeltine dropped from #67 to #77.

This was the first time they reported the quantitative numbers used in the survey of their course reviewers and both Minnesota course totals were similar: 32.80 for Interlachen and 32.32 for Hazeltine.

The top three U.S. courses were Pine Valley (94.92), Cypress Point (93.86) and Augusta National (84.64).

Neither Minnesota course made the top 100 world list.