Berry Makes it Three Victories in Four Years at 2015 Minnesota PGA Senior Match Play Championship

Edina, MN-- (2) Don Berry of Edinburgh USA bounces back after a tough Match Play Championship loss at Brackett's Crossing CC with a 19 Hole championship match victory at Edina Country Club in the 2015 Minnesota PGA Senior Match Play Championship. This is Berry's third victory in four years in this event with his lone defeat coming at the expense of Dave Nordeen of Somerby GC last year. He finishes an impressive campaign in the Senior events including wins in all three of the major events: Senior Open, Senior Section Championship, and Senior Match Play.

Although Berry has experienced a large amount of success in all of his Senior events this season, he really had to earn the Senior Match Play Victory against a worthy opponent in (4) Mike Flaherty of University GC. Flaherty, playing in his first Senior Match Play Championship, got off to a solid start when Berry bogeyed #2 and he parred to go 1 up. After that, Flaherty would never have the lead but still managed to force extra holes. Berry dropped a 50-footer for birdie on #3 to pick up momentum on the front nine, and another birdie for Berry on #8 would give him the lead 2 up at the turn.

Berry continued his strong play to begin the back nine as he went 3 up on #10 when Flaherty missed his par putt. Just when it looked like Berry could walk away with a large victory, Flaherty fought back to keep it close. Flaherty was just outside the fringe when he nailed a 45-foot birdie putt on the Par 3, #11 to bring the lead down to 2 up. That proved to be just the spark that Flaherty needed to get back into the match; especially when Berry bogeyed the very next hole and the lead went to 1 up in favor of Berry. It got even more interesting when Flaherty put his approach shot about 2-feet from the cup on #14 and tapped in for birdie. Berry missed his birdie putt on #14 to make the match all square with four to play.

On #16, it seemed as if Berry was in the midst of a significant collapse when his drive went out of bounds on the Par 4. After his drop, he hit an incredible iron shot to about 10 feet and ended up halving the hole. Flaherty and Berry both parred #17 and #18 to send the match into a playoff. On the first playoff hole, played on #1, Berry hit his approach shot about 12-feet from the hole while Flaherty saw his approach miss the green by a few feet. Flaherty hit his third shot about 10 feet away, opening the door for Berry. Don just missed his putt, making a par for the hole. Flaherty then had his 10-footer to force another extra hole but came up just short.

An exciting finish to the Senior Match Play Championship; simlar to the extra holes needed in the Match Play Championship at Brackett's Crossing CC won by Matt Norgaard of Somerby GC over Berry who was relieved to be on the winning side this time. Huge thanks to the Edina Country Club staff and our sponsor the PGA Tour!