Jul. 14—Nine local golfers will head to Bloomington on Monday to play over three days for the state’s most prestigious amateur golf event — the Minnesota State Amateur Championship.
This year, for the first time in the 121-year history of the championship, those nine players, and everyone in the 156-player field, will be playing for something extra. The winner of this year’s Minnesota State Am earns an exemption into the U.S. Amateur Championship, which is scheduled for Aug. 12-18 at Hazeltine National in Chaska, which will also host the Women’s PGA Championship in 2026 and the Ryder Cup in 2029.
This year’s State Am will be played at Minnesota Valley Country Club in Bloomington, with the first groups teeing off at 7:30 a.m. Monday.
Defending champion Caleb VanArragon won’t be in the field this year. The former Blaine High School and Valparaiso (Ind.) University star turned pro in late May after his college career ended. He won the Twin Cities Open and has an exemption into the PGA Tour’s 3M Open, which runs July 22-28 at TPC Twin Cities in his hometown of Blaine.
Here’s a look, in alphabetical order, at the local golfers entered in this year’s championship:
—Tanner Angelstad (Kenyon Country Club): The 2021 Kenyon-Wanamingo High School graduate is in the State Am for a second consecutive year. Angelstad recently wrapped up his junior season at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis., where he was second on the team with a 74.44 average this spring. Angelstad’s great-grandfather, Bob Finseth, finished as the runner-up at the State Amatuer in 1964, when he pushed Bob Barbarossa to 37 holes in the final.
—Cecil Belisle (Red Wing Golf Course): The Red Wing graduate continues to add to his golfing resume, having recently completed his college eligibility with two seasons at the University of Kansas, after winning two NJCAA national championships at South Mountain C.C. in Arizona.
Belisle has qualified for the U.S. Amateur the past three years; he won two high school state championships, the Minnesota State Open in 2021 and the Minnesota Golf Association Players Championship in 2020 and 2022. He also had a top-10 finish at last year’s State Am, tying for eighth (72-66-72—210).
—Eric Deutsch (Rochester Golf & Country Club): A Rochester native, Deutsch was a standout golfer at Lourdes High School before playing Division I college golf at Notre Dame. He is also a former MGA State Amateur champ, having won the event in 2004 at Northland Country Club in Duluth, when he shot a three-round total of 207.
—Micah Harber (Eastwood Golf Course, Rochester): The former Mayo High School standout completed his college career at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, a year ago. He led the Knights in scoring in six meets during his college career, after playing at Mayo from 2015-18.
—Kyle Hickey (Rochester Golf & Country Club): The 2019 Rochester Lourdes High School graduate was a senior this past school year at the University of Central Oklahoma, where he played the past two seasons, after playing in junior college at Iowa Western. Hickey played in 40 of 47 meets during his time at Central Oklahoma and finished this season with a 73.3 average. Hickey finished tied for 41st at the State Am a year ago, which included a second-round 68 at Minneapolis Golf Club.
—Anders Larson (Pine Island Golf Course): The 2022 Pine Island graduate has already had quite a memorable summer. He qualified for the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic earlier this month, shortly after being cleared to play, following surgery on his injured hand this spring. After two years at Division I Tennessee Tech University, the leader of Pine Island/Zumbrota-Mazeppa’s 2022 state championship team will transfer this fall to Eastern Kentucky University, where he’ll play his final two seasons of college golf.
—Ben Meyer (Austin Country Club): Meyer, a standout for the Austin High golf team in the mid-2000s, is back in the State Am after qualifying a year ago, but missing the cut. He’s in the championship for a third straight year, having tied for 58th place in 2022 at Olympic Hills in Eden Prairie.
—Matt Norgaard (Somerby Golf Club): Norgaard was an assistant pro at Eastwood Golf Course in Rochester before spending nearly 11 years as a pro at Somerby. A former Rochester All-City champion (2018), Norgaard is a veteran of dozens of Minnesota Golf Association championships. Norgaard qualified for this year’s State Am on June 25, by shooting 2-under-par 70 to place fourth at a qualifier at Faribault Golf Club.
—Austin Walker (Stewartville; YOC Minnesota): Walker had an outstanding sophomore year for the Stewartville High School team, leading the team in scoring average at 76.08, the fifth-best average among all high school players in southeastern Minnesota. He narrowly missed out on a trip to the Class 2A state meet and also was just three strokes shy of making the cut 36-hole at last month’s Minnesota State Junior Boys Championship.
