MOORHEAD \u2014 If there were walk-up songs to the first tee at the Red River Amateur, no one would pick \u201cWho Let the Dogs Out,\u201d by Baha Men which came out in 2000.<\/p>\n
The big dogs are staying in the bag.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s probably been 26 years too since drivers were a key factor in playing high-level golf at the Moorhead Country Club. With the accuracy needed to play for position off the tee, you\u2019ll find a variety of driving irons, 3-irons, 4-irons and even higher lofted clubs swiped off the tee boxes, even on some par-5 holes during the three-day tournament.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe course demands keeping the ball in play because you have to be in the right spot on the greens to have a chance at an aggressive birdie putt,\u201d said Andy Doeden, the 46-year-old who has played the course since he was a child and turned pro after his collegiate career at Texas Christian University.<\/p>\n
Riley Johnson, a former pro as well after winning the North Dakota Class A title twice at West Fargo, fired a 2-under 69 on Saturday to put himself near the lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou don\u2019t have to come out here and bomb it,\u201d Johnson said, noting that making your second shot playable is paramount since several fairways are lined with trees. \u201cSo if that\u2019s a 5-iron or 6-iron off the tee, that\u2019s what you\u2019ve got to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson carries a driving iron, but much of it has to do with wind direction and planning out the hole ahead. On Friday, for instance, there were several front pin positions and players kept that in mind when considering their second shot.<\/p>\n
The finishing side-by-side holes of Nos. 17 and 18, with the course\u2019s entrance Caddy Avenue being out of bounds between them, is a narrow challenge for every golfer at MCC. You\u2019ll see golfers pull anything out of the bag depending on what they\u2019re comfortable with.<\/p>\n
Some players in Doeden\u2019s group opted for drivers on the 17th, a 341-yard hole that can have a tight-fitting second shot if the pin is not near the center of the green.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey got it up there 60 yards short, so they had a little closer shot coming in,\u201d Doeden said.<\/p>\n
The former hourglass-shaped No. 7, revamped more than 25 years ago, is another example of a par-5 that plays a bit backwards. It always has. You can\u2019t miss right off the tee and the angle to the green demands precision off the tee.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one is hitting driver, right?\u201d Doeden said.<\/p>\n
The 518-yard hole is typically a long iron off the tee for these guys and a make-or-break second shot if one wants to attack the green protected to the right by water.<\/p>\n
Doeden, off in the morning wave off No. 10 on Saturday, shot a 6-over 77, had three birdies in his round and closed with a 40 on the front nine. He\u2019s just inside the cut to advance to Sunday\u2019s final round.<\/p>\n
While distance rules golf, it\u2019s not as important at MCC. With several greens sloping front to back, missing long and having a slippery downhiller isn\u2019t the most fun way to score here.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that the players that are going to have the most success this week are going to be the best ball strikers,\u201d Doeden said. \u201cAnd they\u2019re going to be the best decision-makers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Johnson said he hit five drivers on Saturday, a round in which he birdied five holes. His driver on the 558-yard 13th led to one of those birds.<\/p>\n
With helping wind on the 533-yard, par-5 fifth, Johnson left his driver in the bag with the fairway having a slight angle to the right.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou just have to go through your numbers to make sure you have an opportunity to go for it, especially downwind,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cSo I hit 3-wood just because the trees are kind of straight-away on the left and if I hit a really good driver, I\u2019d go straight through it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even with 3-wood, he had just an 8-iron approach left to the green.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you\u2019re spot on from 150 yards and in, you\u2019ll do pretty well out here,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of wedges that you hit from 85 yards to 150.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MOORHEAD \u2014 If there were walk-up songs to the first tee at the Red River Amateur, no one…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":899204,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[47],"tags":[361682,6708,1430,240870,6712,363873,62,239728,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-899203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-andy-doeden","tag-fargo-sports","tag-golf","tag-moorhead-country-club","tag-red-river-amateur","tag-riley-johnson","tag-sports","tag-the-forum-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116829420691433521","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899203","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=899203"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/899203\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/899204"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=899203"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=899203"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=899203"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}