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<\/p>\nDULUTH \u2014 Sure, Jesse Bull made winning the 100th Northland Invitational look effortless in an 8-and-6 romp over Will Karkoc in Sunday\u2019s championship match, but there was a time it all could have come crashing down.<\/p>\n
Bull, the medalist in Thursday\u2019s qualifying round and No. 2 overall seed, was 4-up with four holes to play in a delayed quarterfinal match with Jordan Hawkinson on Saturday night at Northland Country Club. Hawkinson, who remains the last player to successfully defend his tournament title (2012-13) then won the last four holes of the match in succession.<\/p>\n
Now with everything to play for, Bull and Hawkinson played two more holes practically in the dark on Saturday night before agreeing to resume their match on its 21st hole at 7 a.m. Sunday. And that\u2019s how one of the most dominant days in the century-long history of this event was nearly over before it began.<\/p>\n
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Jesse Bull of Wayzata watches his putt roll in on the 12th hole to clinch the championship match of the 100th Northland Invitational on Sunday at Northland Country Club in Duluth. He defeated Will Karkoc 8-and-6.<\/p>\n
Brandon Veale \/ Duluth Media Group<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to sleep on that, but what helped me was kind of a reset. It\u2019s a new day, a fresh start, I\u2019m even. I didn\u2019t lose the match. It felt like I did and that fresh day kind of gave me this new perspective and I kind of had a clear mind,\u201d Bull said.<\/p>\n
After halving the first hole of the day, Bull finally closed the quarterfinal out on hole 22 with a two-putt par.<\/p>\n
That set up a semifinal in which Bull was 3-up after five holes and 5-up after nine en route to a 6-and-5 dismissal of Mike Christensen, the 2020 and 2022 champion.<\/p>\n
The final pitted Bull, a Wayzata resident and North Dakota men’s hockey alum representing The Club at Golden Valley, against Karkoc. Karkoc, from Maple Grove, is coming off a season at Bethel University in which he was named the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Men\u2019s Golf Player of the Year and finished second at the national Division III tournament.<\/p>\n
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Will Karkoc and his caddy watch Jesse Bull of Wayzata tee off on the 10th hole during the championship match of the Northland Invitational on Sunday at Northland Country Club in Duluth.<\/p>\n
Brandon Veale \/ Duluth Media Group<\/p>\n
Karcoc survived a marathon of his own on Sunday, going 22 holes before outlasting Matt Dodd in the other semi, but that match seemed to have the opposite effect.<\/p>\n
As the players navigated a stiff breeze off Lake Superior, Bull won holes five through eight in succession to turn a 1-up lead into a 5-up lead before the turn.<\/p>\n
Even if Karkoc had a better round, it might not have changed matters much on a day in which Bull said he played his \u201cbest golf of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSome days, the shot you\u2019re trying to hit, happens,\u201d Bull said.<\/p>\n
On both 10 and 11, Karkoc had to approach the hole from the back, higher, side of Northland\u2019s infamous green complexes. Neither went well, with Bull winning the 11th even though he drove his first tee shot out of bounds to the left.<\/p>\n
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Will Karkoc of Maple Grove follows his tee shot on No. 11 during the championship match of the Northland Invitational on Sunday at Northland Country Club in Duluth.<\/p>\n
Brandon Veale \/ Duluth Media Group<\/p>\n
Bull\u2019s tee shot on the par-3 12th was accurate to within a few feet and below the hole, and after rolling in a birdie, the post-match handshakes intended to take place in the shadow of the clubhouse instead happened within sight of Snively Road.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been something I\u2019ve been trying to do. Things have to come together. I could have been done at 7:10 this morning. Things need to come together, things need to work out. I feel very fortunate that this year happened to be the year I got it done,\u201d Bull said.<\/p>\n
Though he lost to Joe Stansberry in the 1999 final and has played regularly in the tournament in the 2020s, Bull becomes the tournament’s third consecutive first-time winner and 11th different winner in the last 13 years.<\/p>\n
In a close senior championship match, Shane Johnson regained the lead for good with a par on the par-4 15th hole and earned a 1-up win over Phil Ebner.<\/p>\n
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