Soon after he made the 107th Minnesota State Open his first victory in four years, Carson Herron wiped his brow after a long weather-delayed, two-playoff hole final day.
He was asked if those were sweat or tears he brushed away.
“Sweat, but there’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears goes into this,” he said. “I haven’t won in a while and I didn’t expect to win today. I played my best round of golf probably ever today. Made just one bogey, a bunch of birdies and didn’t make too many mistakes. I didn’t expect to win. It was just great to put myself in this position to win again.”
Herron came from behind at Rush Creek in Maple Grove, shooting an 8-under-par 64 in the third round. That made a three-man playoff with newly turned pro and defending State Open champion Caleb VanArragon and late charging Max Tylke from Rosemount by way of the Legends Club.
All three finished 10-under par, but Herron persevered after getting himself into trouble on the first playoff hole with what he called a “crop dusting” drive — what he deemed his worst of the 54-hole tournament — and a bad fairway bunker lie.
He saved himself with a 10-foot clutch birdie putt after he finally found the green from beyond 100 yards.
Herron made another short clutch putt to win it all on the second playoff hole. This time, it was VanArragon who got in trouble in the left rough, but couldn’t scramble for par as Herron had.
One of PGA and Tour Champions golfer Tim Herron’s three boys, Carson Herron hadn’t won since a junior match-play event in Brainerd the summer of 2020. VanArragon still got the low professional prize — $13,500 — because his other two playoff competitors are both amateurs.
But Herron got an exemption into the PGA Tour of Canada’s CRMC tournament Labor Day weekend at Cragun’s in Brainerd, which coincidentally is where Herron last won.
“That exemption means a lot,” Herron said, adding it will help him measure how his game compares against tour professionals.
A rising senior at New Mexico, Herron returned an encouraging text from his father in Ohio for the Tour Champions Senior PGA major after he completed his round but before the playoffs.
“My dad has been a huge inspiration for me,” Herron said. “He’s the one who pushed me a lot to get better. We practice a lot together. All the stuff he’s taught me since I was 10, it’s priceless and I wouldn’t change anything. He just told me I’m playing great, I had a great day and get ready for a playoff. He said do what you normally do, so I did. I just had to be ready and I felt like I was.”
