Lunn ends strong season with win at Sanford Series Championship

BROOKINGS – Tyson Lunn of Brookings won the Sanford Series Championship on July 20 at Sutton Bay in Agar and it capped off what has been a successful last 12 months for him.

Lunn, who graduated from Brookings at the end of May, shot an even-par 72, but needed to edge out Brandon's Cooper Shuman in a playoff. Lunn won the three-hole playoff and finished at the top against some of the best golfers in South Dakota.

The Sanford Series Championship is a culmination of tournaments that the South Dakota Golf Association holds in the summer. It's a one-round tournament and the top 24 golfers in the series get to play in it. Lunn said he was 17th out of 24 heading into the tournament, so it didn't really cross his mind that he had a chance to win it.

"Sutton Bay is a very open course with no trees and I personally like playing in the wind," Lunn said. "I feel like I play better in the wind. So, going into it, I wasn't really expecting to win, but I knew if I played decent golf, I'd finish in the top 10, which was my goal going into it. I knew I had a chance, but I wasn't really thinking about winning it, even during the playoff. I kind of was just playing golf. I was like, okay, at least I got second place. I'm fine with that."

Sutton Bay is known as one of the top golf courses, if not the top course, in South Dakota. Lunn had not played there before and said it was an incredible experience.

"The views were incredible. The weather was solid. It was a little windy, but the course was dry. You couldn't stick it on the greens and it was difficult. You weren't given many tap-in pars out there. It was my first time seeing the course and thankfully my pairing was with Bryce Thompson and he's a member out there, so he was kind of caddying for me while he was playing and that was very nice," Lunn said.

It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that Lunn played well in a high-stakes tournament as he tied for second place individually at the Class AA State Tournament in Rapid City in the fall. Lunn shot a two-round 147 and shot one-under par in round two at State.

Lunn said coming in second individually was cool, but he was more excited about how the team finished. The Bobcats came in fourth place as a team, which was their highest finish in 26 years.

Lunn was one of four seniors and the others included Jase Bauer, Issak Earley and Rhys Heiberger. He said it was a special car ride home with his teammates because they finished their high school careers on such a high note.

"That was unbelievable," Lunn said. "That day was capped off with the fourth place finish. Honestly, coming in second place [individually] was very nice, but we went into the tournament as the eighth-ranked team in the state. All I wanted was to finish in the top six [as a team] and when I heard Jase Bauer came in at three under, I was so happy for him. I mean, the drive home was the most fun with that fourth place plaque.

"Also, having Andrew Heinze and Jack Baszler there [was special]. They're two up and coming golfers for Brookings. Us four [seniors], three of us were on varsity our freshman year and didn't really have anyone to look up to. So, leaving Brookings, I feel like I've left enough of an impact where they can hopefully get more [State Tournament] plaques in the future."

Lunn said he has been playing in golf tournaments for 10 years now, but his game didn't really click until last summer. That was after he decided to quit playing basketball and started working on his golf game during the winter of his junior year down in Sioux Falls.

In a few weeks, Lunn will head down to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and join the Iowa Western Community College team. He said he was recruited late because his success didn't come until he was going into his senior year, but he thinks he ended up in a good spot.

"I didn't really start playing decent golf until late last summer, so I didn't start the recruiting process until December of 2025 and I knew that I didn't have many options. I heard about Iowa Western through my mom talking to another player's mom. It was between there and [University of Sioux Falls] and Iowa Western just seemed like the better fit. So, I ended up getting the final spot on the team and I'm really excited to go there," Lunn said.

Lunn plans on playing at Iowa Western for at least two years. He said he wants to spend as little on schooling right away and doesn't know what exactly he wants to major in. He added that he has a dream of moving up, but doesnít know what exactly that looks like yet.

"I'm going to kind of play it by ear," Lunn said. "I want to spend as little as I can on schooling right now and get a bunch of core classes done. Then I'll just see where my game is in two years and where I want to be.

"If I want to try and compete more, then I'll go to a Division I school and take less of a scholarship. But if I am like, hey, I'm just going to try and get a scholarship and set myself up, I'll probably go to a Division II or NAIA school. I want to give myself more options for the future because I still don't know what I want to do for schooling."