The 76th Cloquet Invitational Amateur Golf Tournament was all about Scott Anderson this past weekend. Anderson, from Duluth, shot 1-under-par on Friday and never looked back while taking a four-stroke win at the Cloquet Country Club.
Anderson opened play on Friday by shooting the only under-par round of the day and then he set things on cruise control to win with a 2-over-par, 215 for 54 holes.
While Anderson was grinding his way to a win, the rest of the field was sent scrambling in a wild attempt to reel him back in. The first day leader board saw Anderson sitting with a 70, John Treacy at 72 in second, it was Ross Prachar and Shane Johnson tied for third with 74s and former champion Don McKay tied for fifth with Paul Nelson, John Sheff and Bill Tadewald after shooting 75s.
At the end of play on Saturday, it was Anderson in the lead with a 144, but Treacy right on his heels with a 147. Meanwhile, Cloquet's John Sheff, a perennial contender for the Invite, was still hanging around with a 149 along with Paul Nelson.
However, on Sunday the conservative Anderson continued to just grind out pars, an occasional birdie or two with a bogey for good measure. He rounded out the day with four birdies, four bogeys and 10 pars to finish at 2-over-part 215 for the tournament.
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Treacy appeared to have the best chance of catching Anderson on Sunday after cutting the lead to just two on holes 11 and 12, but things changed as Anderson pulled away. Facing a long 80-foot putt for a birdie, Anderson dropped it in to build his lead back to three.
At the 15th hole, Treacy dropped out of contention, but suddenly it was Reed Kolquist, who won the Reider Lund this year, looming in the rear view mirror of Anderson. Kolquist, who opened the tournament with an 80, had closed the gap on Anderson to seven strokes heading into Sunday's final round. Kolquist shot a final round 68, but the late run was too little and too late against the steady Anderson.
At the end of the day the leader board looked like this: Anderson 215, Kolquist 219, John Treacy, John Sheff and Ross Fremont 223, Wes Salo 224, Steve Stojevich and Ross Prachar 225 and Don McKay 226.
Former Esko golfer Jim Stafford won the President's Flight with a 242, and Dapper Danielson was the Senior Championship winner with a 227.
Winner of the first flight was Jeremy Smith, Joe Lisignoli won the second flight, it was Rus Liupakka taking the third flight, Dennis Melland won the fourth flight, Kurt Erickson took the fifth flight and Don Hanson was the sixth flight champion.
The win by Anderson was only his second win in local golf circles with his last win a 2002 victory in the Northland Invite in Duluth.
