Submitted photo Sleepy Eye United’s Ben Laffen (left) and Caleb Christensen were named the 2017 All-Journal Boys’ Golfers of the Year.

SLEEPY EYE — It’s a friendly rivalry that’s been going since Caleb Christensen and Ben Laffen became teammates at the varsity level five years ago.

And while they often wanted to outdo than each other on the golf course, Christensen and Laffen became great friends and learned to become even better teammates on a Sleepy Eye United team that was nearly impossible to beat at the local level.

Christensen, a senior, and Laffen, a junior, were named the 2017 All-Journal Boys’ Golfers of the Year after leading SEU to another state tournament.

SEU finished third at state this past year. Laffen finished fourth overall at 155 and Christensen was just 1 stroke back at 156, a fitting end for a pair that dominated the Tomahawk Conference scene this past year.

“I guess our competition [with each other] has helped us both get better throughout the season,” Christensen said. “We don’t have the strongest conference, so us two competing against each other helped keep us strong all season.”

Laffen and Christensen both played huge parts in the team going to state two years in a row.

Christensen’s game really took off over the last couple seasons and he turned into one of the best golfers in the Tomahawk Conference. This past year, his game was better than ever and he committed to Concordia University in St. Paul to continue his golf career.

“After playing varsity since seventh grade, the first couple of years I learned from some of the older guys and I developed a passion for it,” Christensen said. “I realized that I could play in college and that helped me keep going for more.”

Laffen said the team will be different next year without Christensen.

“I’ll definitely miss it,” Laffen said. “Caleb was definitely a big portion of our team but he has a great future ahead of him. Hopefully we have some younger guys who can help us out next season and get out and give us some usable scores.”

Both agreed that finishing third at state was a team was a huge highlight for them.

“It was a lot of fun, we accomplished a lot, both myself and our whole team,” Christensen said. “I was proud to be a part of it.”