Darren Lundgren of St. Louis fired rounds of 67 and 71 on Friday to capture the Missouri Amateur Stroke Play Championship in New Bloomfield, Missouri. Lundgren, starting the day at 3-under, was two shots off the lead heading into the final 36-holes on Friday, chasing Matt Rau (-4), Todd Obergoenner (-4), Matt Hines (-4), Skip Berkmeyer (-4) and leader Kevin Kring (-5). "I thought the target score to win was between 10 and 12 under par, so I knew I had some work to do on Friday," commented Lundgren.
Friday was the hottest of the three days in New Bloomfield and with 36 holes to play, fatigue could have been a factor, but Berkmeyer and Lundgren got off to great starts in the morning firing 68 and 67 respectively to tie for the lead after 54 holes by two over Matt Rau of St. Louis and Will Hogan of Ozark, Missouri. Berkmeyer birdied four of his last five holes to get to 4-under for the day and 8-under for the tournament with Lundgren, but could not carry his hot finish over into the final round, making four bogies on the front nine in route to a 39, his highest 9-hole score of the tournament. With Berkmeyer fading, Will Hogan made a charge by shooting 34 on the front nine to get to 8-under par, just one back heading into the back nine after Lungren shot a 1-under, 35 on the front to get it to 9-under par, but Hogan also faded with a 3-over par, 39 on the back nine while Lundgren cruised to remainder of the way to win by 3 shots.
The Stroke Play win was Lundgren's third of the year to go with the East Side Amateur Championship at Belk Park Golf Club and the Normandie Amateur Championship, making him one of the favorites heading into US Amateur Qualifying, US Mid-Amateur Qualifying and the Missouri Mid-Amateur later in the season.
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