Harris' golf game is right on during a week off

The Champions Tour player thought a trip back to Minnesota might rejuvenate his play, and his steady final round won the Minnesota Golf Champions title.

By KENT YOUNGBLOOD, Star Tribune

Last update: May 12, 2008 - 12:21 AM

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MINNESOTA GOLF CHAMPIONS

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What a nice way to spend a week off.

John Harris is on the road most weekends, taking his golf game wherever the Champions Tour happens to be.

But this week the tour took a week off. And Harris, struggling a bit with his game, thought coming home might be a good idea. And it was. Harris, of Edina Country Club, shot a final-round 2-under-par 70 to win the Minnesota Golf Champions tournament at Bearpath Golf and Country Club in Eden Prairie.

Harris had a 54-hole total of 8-under 208, two strokes better than runner-up Kane Hanson, the second-round leader.

Welcome back.

Actually this tournament was the perfect place for the 55-year-old Harris to be. His insurance firm, Harris-Homeyer, is a subsidiary of the Stanton Group, which was a title sponsor of the event. So it was a matter of mixing business and pleasure. Well, actually, business and business.

"You know, I hadn't been playing very well," said Harris, who has played in 10 Champions Tour events this year, with two top-25 finishes. "And I just thought maybe coming back to some familiar surroundings might help. I was happy with my game."

His key to victory Sunday was steady play.

Harris started the final round one shot behind Hanson, the defending State Open champion playing out of Detroit Country Club in Detroit Lakes. Harris was still one behind after both shot 2-under 34s on the front nine; Hanson rolled in a birdie putt on the ninth hole to go to 9 under at the turn, leading Harris by one and Chris Borgen by two.

But that changed quickly. In four holes Harris -- who opened the back side with four consecutive pars -- went from one shot down to three shots up. That's because Hanson opened the back nine with three bogeys and a double bogey while Borgen went bogey-par-par-bogey.

Hanson has been playing on the Gateway Tour in Phoenix, where he is 19th on the money list. But he came back to play in this tournament as a tuneup for U.S. Open qualifying, which is this week at The Links at Northfork in Ramsey. Hanson came within a shot of qualifying last year.

Hanson bogeyed out of the sand on the par-4, 469-yard No. 10. Then, on the par-3 No. 11, he pulled his tee shot left of the green. On his second shot, he was distracted by a sound in his backswing and chipped the ball well past the hole, resulting in another bogey.

"Right at impact there was a sound from someone else," Hanson said. "It rattled me, and it took me a couple holes to get back in it. ... Just a bad mental game. I learned something from it. I shouldn't be bothered by something so stupid."

Hanson bogeyed the par-5 No. 12, then three-putted on the par-3 No. 13.

Harris, meanwhile, pitched from the rough and one-putted to par No. 13. On the next hole, a dogleg right, he nearly put his drive out of bounds to the right. But he found his ball, punched out, hit a wedge to 24 feet and then drained the par putt, keeping him four shots ahead.

Four holes later, Harris -- who hadn't played in this tournament since 2000 -- was the champion.

"I was just trying to play my own game into shape, do what I needed to do," said Harris, who carried his own golf bag for the first nine holes; his brother, Rob, took over the bag at the turn. "Now I'm excited about going to play next week."

He will be going to Birmingham, Ala., for next weekend's Champions Tour stop.

Borgen, playing out of Hiawatha, and Craig Brischke of Tanners Brook finished tied for third at 5 under.