DETROIT LAKES — The Pine to Palm committee decided to kick off the 92nd edition of the coveted tournament with a special round of golf between the legends of old and in the making. “The Match” was created to honor the great competitors that have made their mark on the Pine to Palm. Four “Legends” tested their talents against four “Young Guns” in a nine-hole, total score scramble on Sunday, Aug.
4. “I want to bring back some of the guys that are a little bit older and guys that had turned pro and the guys that aren't championship fighters anymore but have just a great history here at the club,” Detroit Country Club general manager Tom Dolby said, who came up with the idea for the event. “We have so many young, talented players now that I wanted to bring the two ages together and the two groups of players together to really mesh the past with the present.
” The Legends consisted of 1976-77 and ‘80 Pine to Palm champion Bill Israelson, 1983, 1987 and 1989 champion and 1982 runner-up Jim Strandemo, 1991 and 2005 champion and 2018 runner-up Rick Kuhn and 2003 champion and 2001 runner-up Greg Melhus. The Young Guns were comprised of 2023 Pine to Palm runner-up and 2024 Minnesota Class AAA state champion Torger Ohe, 2024 Minnesota Class AA state champion Jack Justesen, 2024 PGA Junior runner-up and 2023 Minnesota Class AAA runner-up Joe Honsa and three-time Minnesota Class AAA top 10 finisher and 2024 PGA Junior runner-up Ryan Stendahl. “I just have so much respect for the past champions here.
Israelson, Strandemo, guys that won these events two, three times,” Dolby said. “It's a real special feat to win a match-play event with 64 players in it, and I just really wanted to honor them.” The match was tied up through five holes.
The Legends went up one after six but the Young Guns had a chance to tie things up Justesen’s second shot landed about 3 feet from the pin. The youngsters missed their putts and the Legends remained ahead. Israelson hit a beautiful ball on the eighth hole that landed less than five feet from the hole.
After the Young Guns failed to put the ball in the cup, Strandemo sunk his put to give the Legends a two-stroke lead heading into the final hole. The two teams tied the final hole but the Legends took home the crown. They were awarded wedges from Dolby.
The final score read Legends 29 and the Young Guns 31, but the competition brought together two special groups of players that had the utmost respect for each other. “It was amazing to see how many people were out here and playing with Joe (Honsa), Jack (Justesen) and Ryan (Stendahl),” Ohe said. “It was pretty special.
It was just a fun, really cool environment to play in and just a fun way to get people excited about the week. The caddies were amazing. We had a couple of fourth and fifth graders out there.
So it was really fun.” “It's great to see old friends like Jim (Strandemo),” Israelson said. “I grew up playing against him in the Pine of Palm back in the '70s.
Then Greg Melhaus actually played one of my sons and I came over here and watched him beat him in the quarterfinals. I've known Rick Kuhn who went to the University of Minnesota, so I've seen him play for a long time.” Israelson had some ties with one of the Young Guns and enjoyed the new generation of hopeful Pine to Palm legends.
“Then it's always fun to see these young kids coming up,” Israelson continued. “Ryan Stendhal, his dad and I are good friends. He's a senior player.
He's a little younger than me. So it's fun to see these people that you competed with, their kids coming up and playing in the tournament, too.” Throughout the scramble, Dolby and good friend Mark Johnson shared with the gallery the successes of the Legends and Young Guns.
For Ohe, he picked up on a few things the Legends and learned that their greatness went beyond Pine to Palm. “It's pretty incredible how much success they've had, not just in this tournament, but just in golf in general,” Ohe said. “I think just how consistent they are.
They seem to have a really good head about them and just staying in things mentally is just a huge part I've learned from.” Israelson hasn’t played in a Pine to Palm tournament since turning pro in 1980. But he knows that the competition and atmosphere at Detroit Country Club throughout the week is something special.
“It's a lot of family,” Israelson said. “I used to stay with Joe Mayer over in his cabin, and we had four or five other really good players. We used to play tennis and had a lot of other competitive activities and stuff like that.
It was always a fun week. It made the actual competition less stressful because you weren't always thinking about golf. That's where some of my success came from.
” The response from a hopeful Pine to Palm tradition was cheers and smiles. The gallery stayed with the eight golfers making it feel almost like championship Sunday at the Pine to Palm. It’s safe to say that Dolby wants to keep it as a Pine to Palm tradition.
“I think we're going to have this event, maybe not in the same exact format every year, but there will be an event every year bringing back past champions and honoring them,” Dolby said. “That's what this event to me is all about. That's one of the things I think that has been missing, which is to back the past because the youth here is really strong.
There's just no denying the youth movement in this event, but we got to keep honoring the past.”.
