The Sleepy Eye Golf Club hosted its 4th Annual Sleepy Eye Invitational presented by Mathiowetz Construction on Saturday, July 25th. Past winners of the tournament were once again all in the field, included Sleepy Eye native Garrett Soukup, Andy Jacobson of Willmar, and Thomas Campbell originally from New Zealand. Campbell has played professionally ever since gradauting from University of Minnesota and has numerous professional mini tour wins and has made the cut in Korn Ferry and Candian Tour events as well.  Andy Jacobson the 2018 champion of the invitational also played professinal golf in his past before regaining his amateur status a few years back.

Another example of high end talent that this event attracts is golfer Brett Benson (Benson grew up in Jackson, Mn.) and during his collegiate days picked up two victories at the Divsion 1 Level.  “I can’t mentino one by one all the great players who competed this year but just as an example Eagle Creek Golf Club located in Willmar brought over about 5  high level golfers to this event and that helped contribute to the deepest field the event has ever seen.” tournament organizer Kaleb Walter said.

As for the event itself

Defending champ Campbell got off to a solid start, going out in 34 (-2), while 2018 winner Jacobson carded a 33 (-3) for a share of the 9 hole lead with Matt Gorans of Eagle Creek Golf Club. Dan Zufall of SE Golf Club and Pete Hannig of Eagle Creek Golf Club also carded first-9 34’s, while four others posted 35’s (-1).

The second nine ultimately set the stage for what was to come in the final 9, as defending champ Campbell posted a 31 (-5), which is just one stroke more than the local course record at Sleepy Eye Golf Club (30). Emerging as the front-runner once again, Campbell established a 6 stroke lead over the likes of Andy Jacobson, Caleb Christensen, Brett Benson, Pete Hannig, and Danny Anderson by shooting 65 (-7) in his first 18 holes.

Campbell would ultimately complete a successful defense of his title by posting a final-9 33 (34-31-33) to finish at a total of 98 (-10 for the tournament). Christensen (-1 through 18) shot his low-9 of the tournament in his final 9, carding 34 (-2) to finish Tied-2nd with Garret Soukup, who made up some ground in his final 9 by shooting 32 (-4). Christensen and Soukup finished the tournament at 105 (-3). Jacobson finished 4th with a 106 (-2), while Benson rounded out the top 5 at 107 (-1).

Results

Championship Flight

Thomas Campbell -10

Caleb Christensen -3

Garret Soukup -3

Andy Jacobson-2

Brett Benson -1