Minnesota
Carson Herron wins Minnesota State Open after three-man playoff
Soon after he made the 107th Minnesota State Open his first victory in four years, Carson Herron wiped his brow after a long weather-delayed, two-playoff hole final day.
He was asked if those were sweat or tears he brushed away.
“Sweat, but there’s a lot of blood, sweat and tears goes into this,” he said. “I haven’t won in a while and I didn’t expect to win today. I played my best round of golf probably ever today. Made just one bogey, a bunch of birdies and didn’t make too many mistakes. I didn’t expect to win. It was just great to put myself in this position to win again.”
Herron came from behind at Rush Creek in Maple Grove, shooting an 8-under-par 64 in the third round. That made a three-man playoff with newly turned pro and defending State Open champion Caleb VanArragon and late charging Max Tylke from Rosemount by way of the Legends Club.
All three finished 10-under par, but Herron persevered after getting himself into trouble on the first playoff hole with what he called a “crop dusting” drive — what he deemed his worst of the 54-hole tournament — and a bad fairway bunker lie.
He saved himself with a 10-foot clutch birdie putt after he finally found the green from beyond 100 yards.
Herron made another short clutch putt to win it all on the second playoff hole. This time, it was VanArragon who got in trouble in the left rough, but couldn’t scramble for par as Herron had.
One of PGA and Tour Champions golfer Tim Herron’s three boys, Carson Herron hadn’t won since a junior match-play event in Brainerd the summer of 2020. VanArragon still got the low professional prize — $13,500 — because his other two playoff competitors are both amateurs.
But Herron got an exemption into the PGA Tour of Canada’s CRMC tournament Labor Day weekend at Cragun’s in Brainerd, which coincidentally is where Herron last won.
“That exemption means a lot,” Herron said, adding it will help him measure how his game compares against tour professionals.
A rising senior at New Mexico, Herron returned an encouraging text from his father in Ohio for the Tour Champions Senior PGA major after he completed his round but before the playoffs.
“My dad has been a huge inspiration for me,” Herron said. “He’s the one who pushed me a lot to get better. We practice a lot together. All the stuff he’s taught me since I was 10, it’s priceless and I wouldn’t change anything. He just told me I’m playing great, I had a great day and get ready for a playoff. He said do what you normally do, so I did. I just had to be ready and I felt like I was.”
Minnesota
If Arizona hosts Los Angeles Rams vs Minnesota Vikings due to fires, it wouldn’t be a first
NFL Wild Card playoff picks: Consider Eagles, Commanders and Vikings
Lorenzo Reyes is back with his three best bets ahead of Sunday and Monday’s games during Wild Card Weekend.
There could still be one more football game played in Arizona this season. On Wednesday, the NFL announced that it has a contingency plan to potentially move Monday night’s wild-card game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams to State Farm Stadium due to ongoing wildfires raging across Southern California.
For now, the league is preparing for the game to take place at SoFi Stadium, the Rams’ home in Inglewood. But if a change of location is deemed necessary, the Cardinals’ stadium in Glendale would play host, giving Arizona its first playoff game — excluding Super Bowls — since the 2015 divisional round.
It would, however, not be the first time that NFL teams have had to move to Arizona. Here are the other times that similar moves have occurred:
2020: San Francisco 49ers
Due to the spread of COVID-19 in the fall of 2020, Santa Clara County briefly banned all contact sports. That forced the San Francisco 49ers to play three home games at State Farm Stadium. The team used fields near the stadium as its practice facility and stayed at the Renaissance Phoenix Glendale Hotel and Spa across the street.
2007: San Diego Chargers
It would not be unprecedented if the Rams had to make Arizona home due to fires. The then-San Diego Chargers practiced at the Cardinals’ Tempe facility for three days in 2007 due to the Witch Creek Fire, which forced 40 members of the organization to evacuate their homes. The team returned to San Diego for their game that Sunday, defeating the Houston Texans.
2003: San Diego Chargers
Four years earlier, the Chargers had a Monday Night Football game against the Dolphins moved to Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe. Again, the move was due to fires in Southern California, which caused poor air quality. The Chargers’ home field, Qualcomm Stadium, was also used as an evacuation center during the fires. Both teams flew to Arizona on game day for a game Miami won, 26-10. The NFL distributed 73,104 free tickets to the game.
Minnesota
Boston Fleet fall to Minnesota Frost in overtime
Taylor Heise scored the overtime winner to lift the Minnesota Frost to a 2-1 victory over the Boston Fleet on Wednesday night
The win is the Frost’s third in as many games this season against the Fleet, and the second in seven days by an overtime finish. Hannah Bilka scored early on for the Fleet, making this the first time Boston has opened the scoring against Minnesota this season.
Later in the first period, Denisa Křížová scored her first goal of the campaign, tying the game at one and ending the game’s regulation scoring. Heise’s winner came at 3:20 of the extra frame on Minnesota’s first shot of overtime on Emma Söderberg, who stopped 24 shots throughout regulation. Maddie Rooney picked up her fourth win of the season with a 26-save performance.
Minnesota
Bird flu cases surging in southern Minnesota, DNR says
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