RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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See the full story · 1 sourcesJul. 29—BEMIDJI — Landon Miller and Nate Peyerl are typically teammates at the University of North Dakota. However, at the Birchmont Golf Tournament, teammates often become one-day foes.
Miller, the 32nd-seeded player in the 102nd edition of the Men's Championship Division, got the better of Peyerl by a 1-up score.
Miller will take on a more traditional rival in the second round on Thursday when he plays against North Dakota State's Sean Moore, the No. 17 seed. Moore beat No. 16 Logan Schoepp, who just graduated from Bemidji State, 5-and-4.
Eighth-seeded Josh Bergrud had a back nine to remember. He lost four of the first six holes against No. 25 Evan Booth out of U-Mary. Bergrud then won five of the next six holes to take a 1-up lead heading to the 13th. Booth squared the match with a par on No. 14, but Bergrud rebounded with an eagle on No. 15 and a birdie on the final hole to win 2-up.
Bergrud will play against No. 9 Carter White, also out of NDSU. White notched a 2-and-1 victory over No. 24 Matthew Gregg with wins on three of the final four holes played.
Three other matches were decided on the 18th hole, starting with Cullen Ryan's upset over No. 5 Jon Sauer.
Ryan, the 28th-seeded player and rising senior at Bemidji State, surrendered his slim lead when Sauer squared the match with a birdie on No. 15. Sauer's Bogey on the 18th paved the way for Ryan to advance. He will play against No. 12 Jim Foss, who won three of the final four holes against No. 21 Lucas Feterl for a 2-and-1 win.
BSU teammate Teagan LaPlante, the 14th-seeded player, outlasted No. 19 Alex Barrett out of Red Lake. LaPlante trailed by two holes with four to play, but pars on the final four holes led him to a 1-up win. He will take on third-seeded Jacob Skarperud, who beat Bemidji's Weston Seitz handily 6-and-5.
Three-time Men's Division champion Nick Schaefer nearly saw his run for a fourth title end in the first round. Playing against the reigning Junior 17U winner, No. 22 Koby Koerner, Schaefer trailed by one hole with three to play. Schaefer made a birdie on No. 16 and a par on the final hole for the 1-up win. He will take on No. 6 Joey Mackinac out of NDSU. Mackinac beat Bemidji's Ryan Daman 4-and-3.
The remaining matches were decided more convincingly.
UND's Carver Larson, the fourth seed, beat Toby Palmiscno 8-and-6. He will take on former BSU and NDSU men's golfer Rylin Petry, the No. 13 seed. Petry beat Drew Gumlia 5-and-4.
Medalist and No. 2 seed Carson Skarperud beat Brainerd's Jack Hagberg 3-and-2. Tim Skarperud, Carson's dad, also advanced as the No. 15 seed with a 3-and-2 win over Brock Amundson to set up the father-son battle in the second round on Thursday.
Seventh-seeded Brody Johnson out of East Grand Forks beat Chad Skarperud 2-and-1 to advance. He will play against No. 23 Parker Brock, who beat Ryan Engel 4-and-3. Brock was just one of four lower seeds to advance to the second round in the Men's Division on Wednesday.
Match play resumes at 12:15 p.m. on Thursday.
Annika Jyrkas had to win one of the last three holes to win her match against 12th-seeded Morgan Hetletved, the 2023 Women's Division champion. Jyrkas, a rising sophomore at the University of North Dakota and native of Fergus Falls, needed all three of those holes and then some to get it done.
Hetletved picked up wins on Nos. 13 and 14 before Jyrkas' par on the par-5 15th regained a 3-up lead. Then Hetletved roped off three straight hole wins to tie the match.
Jyrkas, the fifth-seeded player, regrouped in time to win the playoff hole. She will take on No. 4 Anna Eckmann, a Park Rapids High School graduate and Augustana women's golf team member. Eckmann birdied No. 18 to clinch a 1-up win over No. 13 Alexis Fabian in a back-and-forth match.
Two more women's matches were nail-biters. Ninth-seeded Mallory Uselman beat No. 8 Kate McComb 1-up. Uselman won the final two holes with a par and birdie on No. 18. She will play against Gigi Lund, the top seed and medalist winner. Lund beat No. 16 Emily Mallory 4-and-3 on Wednesday in the first round.
Lindsey Astrup, another UND women's player, knocked off No. 7 Mary Harris by one hole. Astrup, the No. 10 seed, clinched the win with a par on No. 18. Neither Astrup nor Harris led by more than one hole throughout the entire match.
Astrup will play against UND teammate Jaya Grube, who rolled past No. 15 Anna Tollette 6-and-5. Grube won the medalist honor a year ago and is seeded second in this year's tournament.
Sixth-seeded Brittany Carlson cruised past No. 11 Lily Lundgren 7-and-6. She will play against six-time Birchmont champion Emily (Israelson) Peterson on Thursday. Peterson, the third seed, beat Macy Petry 5-and-4.
The Women's Division will begin the quarterfinals at 7:45 a.m. on Thursday.
In a tightly contested Junior 17U Division, the top-seeded player saw his run end in the quarterfinals.
Verndale's Carter White, the eighth-seeded player, knocked off Medalist James Palmer out of Bagley by a 4-and-2 score. He will take on Cooper Stow, the No. 4 seed out of Anoka. Stow beat No. 5 Joel Prokop 4-and-2. Prokop was one of five Bemidji High School boys golf team members in the championship field.
The other four played on the opposite side of the bracket on Wednesday. Second-seeded Jackson Fogelson beat No. 7 Drew Valley 2-and-1. Valley erased a two-hole deficit by winning four of the final five holes on the front nine. Fogelson picked up wins on Nos. 10, 11, 13 and 17 for the win.
Fogelson will play against BHS teammate Logan Brink, who beat No. 6 Wyatt Ressemann 1-up. Brink trailed by a hole at the turn, but won five holes on the back nine for a 1-up win. Brink made birdies on Nos. 15 and 16, then survived with a bogey on the 18th to advance.
The Junior 17U semifinals will begin at 7:35 a.m. on Thursday.
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