Today my friend and I paid a return visit to StoneRidge Golf Club in Stillwater. It’s been a number of years since I last played there and I was anxious to get back to the course that GolfWeek currently ranks as the number one public course in the metro area (#4 overall for Minnesota).

Head professional and general manager Keith Kalny is a player and supporter of the Tapemark Charity Pro-Am, as is assistant pro Eddie Wynne. I got to chat with Mr. Wynne a little before the round and one interesting thing of note was the new-style divot repair tool that they give out and recommend (I’ll do another post on that next week).

I was hoping to take new pictures of the course, but the weather did not cooperate. We managed about six holes before the rain started and we had a 20 minute lightning delay on the “back ten.”

StoneRidge is a well-run and well-maintained course designed by Bobby Weed in 2000. It’s really unlike anything else in the state: lots of waste bunkers, wispy grasses in the roughs, false fronts, quarry boulders and multiple options around the greens combine to bring a bit of Europe to the east metro.

Standard public rates are $79 walking and $95 riding and include range balls and a nice yardage book. Memberships are also available and begin at $3400/year. For more information or to check on tee times, call 651-436-4653.

Yesterday I had an unexpected visitor in my office at HSRA Minnesota: the Honourable Ken Krawetz, Minister of Education for the province of Saskatchewan.

Mr. Krawetz and his assistants were being hosted in Minnesota by the talented education architect Randy Fielding. They visited the School of Environmental Studies in Apple Valley in the morning and were on their way to the new Minneapolis Central Library.

It was a pleasure meeting the delegation. I made sure to thank Mr. Krawetz for all the great hockey players (the Wild has three Saskatchewan natives: Derek Boogaard – Saskatoon, Josh Harding – Regina and Nick Schultz – Strasbourg).

As reported by hockey writer extraordinaire Mike Russo, the Wild are almost at the salary cap after signing Pierre-Marc Bouchard last week to a long-term, $20.4 million deal.

He also posted an updated depth chart to his blog and I have to say, I’m pretty excited about the upcoming season:

LW – Brunette, Parrish, Veilleux, Boogaard
C – Koivu, Sheppard, Belanger, Pouliot
RW – Gaborik, Bouchard, Nolan, Miettinen, Weller
D – Burns, Johnsson, Schultz, Zidlicky, Skoula, Bergeron, Reitz, Foster
G – Backstrom, Harding

Of course there are no guarantees, but there seem to be plenty of worse teams in the NHL (at least on paper). Only 58 days to the pre-season opener…

Go Wild!

Minnesota golf professional John Snyder is having a good year, especially considering his left foot was ripped off 3 years ago.

A two-time Tapemark Charity Pro-Am champion (1986, 1989), Snyder started this year by winning the Arziona Senior Open by five strokes May 7 at Royal Dunes Golf Club in Maricopa, Arizona. That field included Austin native Jon Chaffee, Champion Tour players John Jacobs and Jim Ahern and many other past champions.

Then came the 2008 Tapemark, an event he looks forward to playing in each year: “Being a part of this great charity event has been an honor. I have met and made many new friends and have played with some of the finest people in the golf community. Winning this event twice has been one of the highlights of my golf career.”

Snyder rebounded from a first round 78 to finish 28th.

After the Tapemark, Snyder played two UGGOA Tour events, finishing T16 at the DSL Longbow Open and T7 at the DSL Eagle Mountain Open.

This week at the Minnesota State Open, Snyder’s third-round 68 propelled him up the leader board to a T4 and a check for $3,750.

Later this year, Snyder plans to attempt to qualify for the European Senior Tour.

Good luck, John!

The family attended a Sunday afternoon performance of Oklahoma! this weekend that was produced by the Eagan Summer Community Theatre. Colleen couldn’t wait to finally hear the real Surrey with the Fringe on Top after all of those When Harry Met Sally references.

The production quality of this show was quite high and we enjoyed the lead actors: Ashley Lemaire as Laurey and Jared Oxborough as Curley. Douglas Castle was also great as Ali Hakim and the kids liked Honey Ribar as Ado Annie the most.

The worst part of the show by far was the audience – why can’t people shut up for two hours? Aside from that, it was nice to finally see the play that every Okie is duty-bound to watch at some point in their life. Ok-la-hom-a, OK!

University of Minnesota senior Yu Katayama won the 2008 Minnesota State Open at Bunker Hills Sunday, shooting a 2-under-par 70 to win by two strokes over State Am winner Trent Peterson and Alexandria Country Club professional Brett Swedberg.

Defending champion Kane Hanson of Detroit Country Club was four shots back and tied for fourth. Tapemark Charity Pro-Am regulars John Snyder (68), Dave Tentis (68) and Don Berry (67) all had strong final rounds, but Katayama managed to hang on to his second-round lead.

Here are the top five finishers:

• 1, Yu Katayama (a), University GC, 68-69-70-207 (-9)
• T2, Trent Peterson (a), Valleywood GC, 69-71-69-209 (-7)
• T2, Brett Swedberg (p), Alexandria CC, 68-73-68-209 (-7), $9,000
• T4, Clayton Rask (p), Monticello CC, 70-74-67-211 (-5), $3,750
• T4, John Snyder (p), Muscle Golf Worldwide, 71-72-68-211 (-5), $3,750
• T4, Kane Hanson (p), Detroit CC, 68-70-73-211 (-5), $3,750

Full Leaderboard

State Open Winners Since 2000:

• 2008 – Yu Katayama
• 2007 – Kane Hanson
• 2006 – Mike Barge
• 2005 – Jered Gusso
• 2004 – Ty Armstrong
• 2003 – Joe Stansberry
• 2002 – Dave Tentis
• 2001 – Rodney Cook
• 2000 – Ben Meyers

Go Gophers!