Staff photo by Jeremy Behnke Lukas Stull won the 2020 New Ulm Invitational in his tournament debut on Sunday. Stull finished the two-day event with a 178.

By Jeremy Behnke

Journal Sports Editor

NEW ULM — Heading towards the final hole of the Championship Flight at the New Ulm Invitational, Lukas Stull and Bryant Black were both hoping to win their first-ever Invitational in what was both of their debuts.

Stull wound up holding the trophy at the end of the day with a one-foot birdie on the final hole, edging Black by one stroke. Stull finished the two-day event with a 178 (72-70-36) to win the tournament in his first attempt at it.

Black, another first-timer, led the competition after Saturday’s play by three strokes but settled for a par on the final hole of the event to finish with a 179.

Stull, who moved here from Boston a week after the Invitational last year, played the course plenty of times last summer. He was on the club golf team at the University of Michigan so he was one of the few in the Championship Flight that didn’t play in college.

“It was pretty cool, it’s kind of my first taste of collegiate-level golf here in Minnesota, there’s a lot of good players,” Stull said. “Tim [Huffman] wasn’t joking when he said how hard the course was today, it was legit, it was cool to play against so many good golfers and I’m just glad I could make that last putt.”

Stull had a two-day score of 142 after the first 36 holes (18 on both Saturday and Sunday) and the Top 12 in the Championship Flight played another nine holes to determine the winner. There, Stull had to adjust his game slightly because of the conditions from earlier in the day.

“The wind changed today between the first round and the second round, so I was trying to get it on as many greens as possible to try to make pars,” Stull said.

Andrew Peter, who is a former champion, took third overall with a 186 and New Ulm High School graduate and former MSU-Mankato player Ethan Kraus took fourth with a 187.

Josh South won the President’s Flight with a 158, one stroke better than Colin Huffman’s 159. Joey Schugel won the First Fight with a 160 and Dan Reinhart was second with a 167. Bo Wright took the Second Flight (173), one stroke ahead of Peter Kliber (174) and Jerry Boddy and Jeff Wesselmann each shot a 173 on the Third Flight. Joe Eckstein won the Senior Net Play with a 146.

Championship Flight

L. Stull 178; B. Black 179; A. Peter 186; E. Kraus 187; C. Power 188; L. Haala 188, S. Kvidera 189; K. Atnip 189; T. Andersen 191; B. Mathiowetz 194; Allen Vandien 195; T. Zupfer 201.

President’s Flight: J. South 158; C. Huffman 159; R. Paa 159; J. Enter 159; S. Paa 160; E. Kirchberg 161; C. Stull 161; J. Anderson 162; P. Guggisberg 164; J. Cohen 165; K. Gregg 166; S. Wyczawski 168; D. Ganske 177.

First Flight: J. Schugel 160, D. Reinhart 167, M. Holm 173, R. Geistfeld 173, R. Kirchberg 177, A. Sanders 177, C. Wihlm 180, E. Hensler 183, M. Eichten 185, R. Neuman 185, C. Spelbrink 193.

Second Flight: B. Wright 173; P. Kliber 174; N. Voges 175; T. Steinbach 175; R. Galvin 176; T. Gregg 177; B. Messer 179; J. Holm 185; T. Kliber 187; M. Skillings 201; J. Holm 209.

Third Flight: J. Boddy 173; J. Wesselmann 173; B. Skillings 177; C. Gardner 179; R. Kelm 184; D. Kartio 188; A. Fromm 191; J. Wyczawski 192; J. Lofgren 198; M. Furth 202; T. Skillings 205.

Senior Net Play: J. Eckstein 146; D. Olson 151; J. Gibbons 151; R. Wiltscheck 153; J. Kvidera 155; L. Hahka 155; R. Sagedal 156; J. Hannegan 160; M. Maloney 161; P. McCall 161; K. Thein 162; M. Doyle 165; D. Warta 169.