Official Publication of the 100th Annual Resorters Golf Tournament • Echo Press
Th
e
Centennial
R E S O RT
E RS
Celebration
Saturday, August 7, 2021
FREE • VOL. 84, NO. 5
SATURDAY SHOWDOWNS AWAIT Sladek, Constable, Adams and Brown battle for a title
I
tournament in 2010.
Sladek def. Meyer, 2-1
By Eric Morken Alexandria Echo Press
t was not long into the Men’s Championship Division match with Donald Constable, Braeden Sladek, Ian Meyer and Lincoln Johnson that one of the bigger galleries in recent Resorters history formed to follow their every shot. As the foursome walked off each green, carts buzzed down the fairways at AGC to get positioned around the next green. “It was a fun atmosphere,” Sladek said. “You hit a good shot and you hear them screaming and clapping. It was fun.” Many of them were likely there to see Sladek play as an Alexandria kid about to enter his junior year of high school. He put on a show starting at the ninth hole that carried over to the back nine in his 2-up win over Meyer — a Deephaven native who will golf for the University of Iowa. Sladek secured his spot on the first tee box on Saturday morning at 6:50 in the division’s semifinals. Joining him will be a former pro and the top seed in the field in Constable, along with Kelly Brown and Resorters veteran Nate Adams. Here is a look at how all four got to Saturday at the 100th Resorters.
Constable
Sladek
Constable def. Lincoln Johnson, 2-1
Donald Constable won a 1-up battle on Thursday, and he locked up in another close match down the stretch against perennial Resorters contender Lincoln Johnson out of the University of Minnesota. In the end, a 4-up lead for Constable after 13 holes stood up as he held off Johnson in a 2-1 match. It looked like Johnson might take that 13th hole. He had a long birdie putt, and Constable was right of the green on the par 3. His chip shot put him to about 15 feet, and he calmly stepped up and drained the putt. Johnson left himself about five feet for par, and his putt couldn’t find the bottom of the cup as he settled for bogey. Johnson didn’t quit after that. He won 14 after Constable found himself in some tree trouble right of the green. Johnson then sank a near 10-footer on 15 for birdie that moved him to within two. After both players parred 16, Johnson
Above: Donald Constable, facing, and Lincoln Johnson share a hug after Constable withstood a late run by Johnson to win 2-1 in the Men’s Championship Division quarterfinals on Friday. Left: Kelly Brown walks toward his ball on the front nine as it hangs up by about an inch during his Men’s Championship Division match against Jon Sauer. Brown shot 5-under on the back nine on Friday to secure his spot in Saturday’s semifinals with a 3-1 win. Eric Morken / Alexandria Echo Press
needed to make something happen on 17. His drive on the par 3 put him on the
green, but he left his long birdie putt a little bit short. Both players parred as Constable
kept his drive for a second Men’s Division championship alive after winning this
Braeden Sladek was in trouble through the first eight holes. Ian Meyer was dialed in on the front as he shot 2-under. It led to a 3-up advantage after eight when he got birdie wins at 1 and 8 and a par win at 4. But what Sladek did at No. 9 flipped the match. Let him explain it. “I was 140 (yards out) in the rough on the left side,” Sladek said in reliving his first win of the match. “Had to hook it around a tree, caught kind of a flier, and went over the green to a back pin. I’m like, ‘This is going to be a tough up and down.’ I was just trying to snuggle it as close as I could. I landed it right where I wanted to. Hit the grain perfect and it just started to trickle and started tracking the hole.” It tracked all the way in for birdie as that save ignited a flurry on the back. Sladek said it felt like a nearly 1-in1,000 type of shot as the gallery of spectators erupted. “That was the big thing that got me going,” he said. Sladek went on to win No. 10 with a par. Meyer counted with a birdie win at 12, but on the par-3 13th Sladek stuck his drive to nearly a foot for a gimme birdie. It was the start of three straight birdies for
TITLE: Page 4
Good Luck Golfers! 1124 Broadway • Alexandria, MN • 320-762-8070