Responding to the passionate leadership of its captain Steve Steinleitner, Team Albion won a hard-fought victory in the Third Cyder Cup Matches in Brainerd. It was the first victory for Team Albion since the matches began in 2005. Team Ridges had won the previous two competitions. The matches are held yearly at two courses in the Brainerd Lakes Area. Two teams, made up of 12 players each, compete for 54 holes, with 18 holes of fourball and nine holes of foursomes on Saturday, then complete the competition with 12 singles matches on Sunday. Playing at The Pines at Grandview Lodge on Saturday, Sept. 8, the teams ended in a six-all tie. Both won three morning matches in the fourball competition, highlighted by Jim Lipsiea and Gerry Bahe’s rousing 1-up win over Keith Beckman and Dave Greve. Lipsiea made a crucial eight-foot left to right slider for par on the 18th hole to seal the narrow win for Team Albion. In another important match, Myron Damberger and Skip Dolan narrowly defeated Dean Flygare and Fred Schlafke in a tense match that evened things for Team Ridges. Perhaps the key match of the morning saw Mark Nelson and Jeff Holmberg crush Keith Aeikens and Kim Lillehaug by a score of 7 and 6, riding a particularly hot first nine by Nelson. The afternoon foursome session saw two matches end in ties. Dolan and Dick Ofstedal halved with Steinleitner and Myron Morris, while Greve and Nelson finished all square with Dan Berg and Peter Loehr of Team Albion. Bahe and Lipsiea, teamed together again in the afternoon, continued to roll with a win this time over Damberger and Holmberg. Schlafke teamed with Brad Force to beat Team Ridges’ Cal Froehlich and Tom Gay 3 and 1, and Beckman was paired with Paul Manuel to finish off Ed Schmitz and Aeikens 3 and 2. With the score level at six all, team captains Steinleitner of Team Albion and Beckman of Team Ridges settled in at the Jeff Holmberg Family Resort to consult with their assistants in an effort to try to put their best matchups together for the all-important single matches in the morning at Eagle’s Landing Golf Club, south of Brainerd. Both teams left Saturday’s play with a tense, but exhilarating, feeling of anticipation for the Sunday, Sept. 9, singles matches. In the previous years, Beckman’s Sunday decisions always seemed to turn to magic, but it was not to be this time around as Steinleitner’s Team Albion won the first four matches of the day to take a commanding 10 to 6 lead. Team Albion needed 121/2 points to take the cup from Team Ridges, and it seemed well within their grasp at that point. Schmitz beat Nelson 3 and 2 to lead off the matches followed by Filigree’s 4 and 3 victory over Damberger. Lillehaug broke out of a personal match play losing streak with a resounding 6 and 5 victory over Gay. Bahe capped a personal best weekend with his third victory of the matches, throttling Steve Pederson 7 and 6. Ridges needed to win six matches on the day to keep the cup, and they made a brief comeback with victories by Greve (despite five putting the par 5 10th) and Froehlich over Loehr and Aeikens, respectively. But Albion came right back as Force dispatched Dolan 5 and 3, and Lipsiea, highlighted by holing a 90-yard second shot on the par 4 sixteenth, gave Scot Kerbaugh a rude welcome to Annandale with a 4 and 2 victory. At 12 matches to 8, Albion was on the verge of capturing the cup. Beckman staved off the inevitable with a victory over opposing captain Steinleitner, but it was Schlafke who officially eliminated Team Ridges with a solid thrashing of Ofstedal 6 and 5. Holmberg and Manuel pulled Ridges to within two with victories over Morris and Berg, but it was too little, too late. Team Albion had secured a decisive win over Team Ridges 13 to 11. Cunning moves by Captain Steinleitner may have been the key to the stunning victory, and Beckman’s teaming of several usually reliable players failed to produce the usual victories this time around. Joining Bahe at three wins and no losses for the weekend was former Albion captain Lipsiea, who, freed from the burden of the captainship, played with intensity and fearlessness. Bahe and Lipsiea accounted for six of Team Albion’s 13 points, giving them Steinleitner’s co-MVP award. Had Team Ridges retained the cup, rookie Manuel would surely have been its hero, winning all three of his matches as well. In addition to Lipsiea’s 90-yard hole out, Steinleitner also acknowledged Morris’ 30-foot putt on the final hole of his foursomes match as the shots of the tournament and key turning points for Team Albion. Steinleitner also intimated that Team Ridges’ smug and somewhat condescending attitude throughout the summer leading up to the matches may have had something to do with his team’s inspired play. Beckman congratulated Team Albion on a great weekend of golf and warned them to keep their games sharp, as Team Ridges would recommit itself to winning back the cup in 2008. The cup can be viewed in the insurance offices of the Annandale State Bank.
Golf correspondent Dave Greve is a member of Team Ridges. He is still smarting somewhat from the defeat.
