Bemidji golfers compete in 100th Minnesota junior boys championship
Two Bemidji High golfers reached Minneapolis for the 100th state junior boys championship as the MGA marked 125 years of Minnesota amateur golf.
Bemidji High School had two boys golfers on the stage at The Minikahda Club in Minneapolis for the 100th Minnesota State Junior Boys’ Championship, a June 22-24 event that put Beltrami County talent inside a statewide pipeline the Minnesota Golf Association is building for the next generation. The MGA said amateur golf in Minnesota dates to 1901, and this year’s milestone fits its 125-year anniversary of the game in the state.
The championship is more than a title chase. The MGA says its junior pathway is meant to expand and diversify opportunities for elite local golfers, and its Team Minnesota program, launched in 2025 under the United States Golf Association’s National Development Program, adds another layer for juniors trying to move from local rounds to higher-level competition. The state team program is built around development, talent identification and competition, with Minnesota one of the states added to the program in 2025.
On the course, Chase Larson opened the 100th championship on June 22. Andrew Burstad and Russell Ylitalo shared the lead heading into the final round on June 24, and Henry Johnson won the 2026 title on June 25. The MGA’s format sends the low 12 players and ties after the 27-hole competition into an extra nine holes to decide the Junior Public Links Champion, which keeps the event tied to both elite scoring and the broader public-golf pathway the association promotes.
For Bemidji, the Minneapolis trip lands in a spring and summer that already showed how deep the boys program has become. Beckett Grand and Jackson Fogelson tied for fourth in Willmar at the Little Crow Country Club Cardinal/Wildcat Invitational and helped Bemidji finish second in a 22-team field, while Grand had been the Lumberjacks’ lone state participant a year earlier. Local junior golf has also stayed visible around the Birchmont junior division at Bemidji Town and Country Club, giving younger players a familiar place to start before they move into bigger state events.
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