East Grand Forks' Brody Johnson continues strong summer with all-city golf win

Aug. 17—GRAND FORKS — East Grand Forks' Brody Johnson will start his freshman golf season next week at Minnesota-Crookston with some momentum. Johnson continued a strong summer on the course by winning the Grand Forks All-City Men's Championship at the Grand Forks Country Club on Sunday. He was tied for third after Day 1 at King's Walk with a 69 and followed up with a 68 for a two-day total of 137 — edging former Grand Forks Red River and UND golfer Nick Schaefer by two strokes. Johnson is just 18 years old and played the all-city event for the third time. He finished in a tie for fourth last season. "It's definitely a confidence booster," Johnson said of his summer ahead of starting at UMC. "There's nothing given to you in this sport and still have to work super hard. There's going to be 10 of us at Crookston, and I think the top six go to the first tournament. It's going to be a grind, but I definitely want to be playing in that first tournament. I know where my game's at, and now I see how the results go." After Day 1 in the All-City event, Johnson was two shots behind Day 1 leader Matt Norby and one stroke behind Schaefer. "Knowing that I played very well on Saturday at King's Walk yet there were a couple of putts and mistakes that led to bogeys, I set a goal for myself," Johnson said. "I was talking to my swing coach and he said if you keep around 69 or 70 you have a good chance to win, it doesn't have to be crazy." After building a bit of a cushion Sunday, Johnson had to avoid a problem hole on No. 17. "I was thinking if I could par here, I should secure it," Johnson said. "I just hit it to the hazard, took a drop from there and had to punch out to the fairway. I had 220 (yards) left and was hitting four. I hit over the trees just to the right of the green and then plopped one to about 6 feet and made a nice bogey putt. That was a damage control hole. I kept it away from a double or worse ... it could have been a lot worse." Johnson also won the Club Championship at Valley Golf Course in East Grand Forks the previous week. Prior to that, Johnson reached the match play semifinals of the Birchmont in Bemidji. "The last month of July and August has been phenomenal," Johnson said. "Making the final four at the Birchmont was pretty special." In match play, Johnson defeated Chad Skarperud, Parker Brock (spent freshman season at South Dakota State) and Carson Skarperud (UND golfer). Johnson lost to Schaefer in the semifinals. Now, Johnson turns the page to UMC, a team that includes former Red River standouts Kolby and Ross Koerner, as well as Detroit Lakes' Brock Burhans and West Fargo Sheyenne's Andrew Wilhelm. "The Crookston program has absolutely grown so much after COVID," Johnson said. "These last five years they seem to have done really well. I didn't honestly think that's where I was going to end up but my junior year, when coaches can start talking to you, (UMC head coach Brad) Heppner was showing a lot of interest. I like where I'm going to be at."