STATE QUALIFIER — Fairmont golfer Brock Lutterman chips onto a green during a regular-season round at Interlaken Golf Course in Fairmont. Lutterman won a one-hole playoff to earn the fifth and final individual state-qualifying bid during Wednesday’s second round of the Section 3AA Meet at Oakdale Golf Club near Buffalo Lake. (Photo by Greg Abel)

BUFFALO LAKE — When Fairmont’s Brock Lutterman finished his round on Wednesday, the sophomore golfer was one shot away from qualifying for state.

As Lutterman waited for the remaining players, two ahead of him fell back into a tie for seventh as individuals, forcing a four-man playoff for the final state-qualifying spot out of Section 3AA.

Lutterman was the last of the foursome to tee off for the playoff on the par-4 10th hole at Oakdale Golf Club in Buffalo Lake during the second round of the section golf meet Wednesday.

The first three players hit their shots, then Lutterman stepped up. Fairmont assistant golf coach Ryan Stevens said Lutterman knew he would have a chance to make it to state in the future, so it was worth a risky play off the tee.

Stevens said Lutterman executed the shot perfectly, nearly driving the green, then chipped onto the green with his second shot. Lutterman left himself with an easy birdie putt to clinch the final state-qualifying spot, while his competitors all recorded pars.

Lutterman shot a 39-37-76 during Tuesday’s first round of the section tournament, then matched his output with a 37-39-76 during second-round action Wednesday. He made birdies on the par-5 sixth and eighth holes and the par-4 14th to complement nine pars.

Lutterman’s round left him in a tie for seventh overall as an individual with Pipestone’s Braxton Thompson, Minnewaska’s Hunter Kostelecky and Marshall’s Luke Ehlers with two-round totals of 152.

Because two of the top six individual finishers came from Section 3 team champion New London-Spicer, that left the four-way tie as the deciding fifth individual spot out of the section.

Minnewaska’s Cole Harste shot a two-round total of 144 for even par, winning the individual tournamenet, while NLS’ Noah Dietz took second at 147. NLS’ Peyton Coahran and Redwood Valley’s Connor Josephson tied for third with rounds of 148, while MACA’s Charlie Hanson placed fifth at 150 and Litchfield’s Sam Tipka took sixth at 151.

Harste, Josephson, Hanson, Tipka, Lutterman and the NLS team will move on to the Class AA state tournament at Ridges at Sand Creek Golf Course in Jordan. The two-day tournament will take place on June 15-16.

Fairmont’s Alexander Moeller finished the two-round section tournament in a tie for 12th as an individual on Wednesday at Oakdale Golf Club.

Moeller carded a first-round total of 40-41-81, then improved his score for a Round 2 total of 34-43-77, leaving his two-round score at 158.

Moeller birdied the par-5 sixth hole and the par-4 seventh hole, leading to his 2-under front-nine total of 34. He added three pars on the back nine for a total of 10.

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Section 3A Meet

Martin County West freshman Hunter Schmidt exited the Great Life Golf & Fitness golf course on Wednesday with a state-qualifying bid to the Class A state tournament.

Schmidt rallied from a two-stroke first-round deficit to earn a share of the Section 3 individual championship during final-round action in Worthington.

Schmidt carded an opening-round of 44-39-83 on May 26 to trail Adrian sophomore Brock Henning for the top spot on the leaderboard after 18 holes in the books.

Schmidt, however, penciled in a 39-42-81 second round on Wednesday to share gold medalist honors with Henning — who fired an 83 during Day 2 — as both elite golfers produced a two-round total of 164.

Schmidt highlighted his second-round mark with a birdie on the par-4 No. 4 hole to complement eight pars.

Schmidt and Henning will hit the fairways at Pebble Creek Golf Club in Becker on June 15-16 in the Class A state golf meet.

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Section 2AA Meet

Manning Lane, Ashton Lloyd and Braden Gudahl generated a respective 1-2-3 individual sweep to power the Blue Earth Area Bucs to a first-place team showing during opening-round Section 2AA golf action Wednesday at the New Prague Golf Club.

Lane carded an even-par 37-35-72 to pace Blue Earth Area’s first-round winning score of 301 — 16 shots better than runner-up St. Peter, 20 ahead of third-place Holy Family Catholic and 28 better than Glencoe-Silver Lake and Southwest Christian of Chaska.

Lane reeled off eight straight pars to start his opening round on Wednesday before connecting for birdies on a pair of par-5 holes — Nos. 11 and 13. Lane generated a team-leading 14 pars on the round.

Lloyd garnered meet medalist runner-up accolades by producing back-to-back nine-hole scores of 37 en route to a second-place 2-over 74 at New Prague.

Lloyd connected for birdies on the par-4 No. 2, par-5 No. 6 and the par-4 No. 10 to complement 10 pars on his 18-hole round.

Gudahl nailed down third place overall by shooting a 4-over 39-37-76 for the Bucs. Gudahl sank a birdie putt on the par-4 10th hole to go with a dozen pars.

The Bucs, however, added a pair of top-10 performances to complete their counting sectional scores. Gavin Storbeck and Max Ehrich each tied for eighth place overall with a pair of 79s.

Storbeck penciled in a 41-38, highlighted by 11 pars, for Blue Earth Area, while Ehrich shot a reversal of Storbeck by carding a second round of 38-41-79. Ehrich connected for birdies on the par-5 sixth hole and the par-4 16th cup to go with nine pars.

Nathan Murphy rounded out Blue Earth Area’s performance by shooting a 48-46-94, highlighted by four pars.

Blue Earth Area tees up second-round Section 2AA action on Tuesday, June 8, back at New Prague Golf Club.