Travis Ross won the 2024 Ernotte Hiller Memorial Labor Day Golf tournament at Minakwa Golf Course on Monday.
Ross shot a 67 in the qualifying round for the second-best qualifying score, two strokes behind Andrew Wilhelm (a University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Men’s Golfer).
In the first round, Ross beat Brady Heppner 2-up. In the second round, Ross beat Isaac Westlake (a former Pirate and Winona State golfer) 4 and 3. In the semi-finals, Ross beat Andrew Wilhelm 2-up to advance to a championship. “The Wilhelm match would be tough to duplicate as I got a couple of breaks down the stretch,” said Ross. On the other side of the bracket, Carson Shultis (a UMC Golfer) beat Scott Lindgren in one extra hole. In the next round, Shultis beat defending champ Jack Lindgren 4 and 2. In the semi-finals, Shultis beat multi-time champion Mark Lyczewski 6 and 5 to advance to the championship.
In the championship, Ross beat Shultis 3 and 2 to win the championship for the first time. “I feel very fortunate to pull it off this weekend, and it has been a goal to get up on the champions board,” said Ross. “I got off to a slow start in the morning, and both of the matches (against Heppner and Wilhelm) came down to the wire. Overall, I played pretty well and had enough shots go my way to edge it out. It was fun playing in these tight matches and competing with UMC players (Wilhelm and Shultis). Brad Heppner has been building a great program with some very good players.”Ross is no stranger to success on the golf course, as he golfed at St. Cloud State University, where he won the NCC Individual championship in 2007, before transferring to D-1 New Mexico, where he made the Mountain West All-Conference in 2011.
After college, Travis played pro and retired 10 years ago. Ross last played in the Hiller tournament in 2005 as a senior in high school.
Layton Bartley won the consolation championship.
OTHER FLIGHT WINNERS
Minakwa Flight – Wyatt Hanson beat Dustin Fanfulik in the championship. Holdyn Evjen won the consolation championship.
Hiller Flight – Dane Anderson beat Wade Hanson in the championship. Doug Larson won the consolation championship.
Red River Flight – Marc Bofarull beat Kolby Koerner in the championship. Alex Stoe won the consolation championship.
The Ranch Flight – Ethan Christopherson beat Harry Moran in the championship. Dale Stoe won the consolation championship.
First Flight – Adam Stratton beat Dillon Sannes in the championship. Tanner Christianson won the consolation championship.
Second Flight – Kelly Madigan beat Scott Corbin in the championship. Matt Hann won the consolation championship.
Third Flight – Jay Ricord beat Ryan Kizewski in the championship. Cam Herron won the consolation championship.
Fourth Flight – Colin Guidinger beat Troy Magsum in the championship. Halle Nicholas won the consolation championship.
5th Flight – Mark Steinke beat Brandon Kresl in the championship. Devin Barton won the consolation championship.
