Staff photo by Travis Rosenau Lukas Stull poses with the New Ulm Invitational Championship Flight trophy after winning the tournament for the third time on Sunday at the New Ulm Country Club.

NEW ULM — After a move back to Michigan last year saw Lukas Stull miss his shot at a three-peat in the Championship Flight of the New Ulm Invitational, he returned to the New Ulm Country Club this past week and left Sunday with his third championship stein.

Stull’s 36 on the final nine holes of the Championship Flight Sunday was enough to hold off New Ulm’s Scott Paa by one stroke overall and finish as the tournament’s champion for a third time.

Stull was a shot behind Paa after Saturday, turning in a 71 to Paa’s 70. But the two were tied up heading into the Championship Flight’s final nine holes Sunday after Paa’s 78 and Stull’s 77 in the second round.

Stull had a careful approach during his final nine and it was enough to see him finish as champion.

“[Saturday], Scotty and I both had our game going, I think we both played pretty well,” Stull said. “[Sunday], it was the wind. It was super windy, it’s hard to guess where your shots are going to go, and this course you’re kind of sitting down in the trees so you can’t always feel the wind. So there’s a lot of surprises, you hit a shot, you don’t know where it’s going to go. But it’s just trying to make sure you make the least amount of mistakes is pretty much how it goes when you’re playing in the wind like this. I’m just glad I clawed it out.”

While Sunday’s final round did feature some wind, it also saw a high of 71 degrees, a much-welcomed change from the past two years’ tournaments that got into the mid 90s.

Andy Metzen and Shane Kvidera, last year’s champion, tied for third in the Championship Flight with a 27-hole total of 187. Jimmy Fromm turned in a total of 189 for fifth.

Stull, a Michigan native, moved back to Kalamazoo last year and wasn’t in the 2022 Invitational. But his love for New Ulm and the tournament brought him back this year for the 63rd annual edition.

“I lived in New Ulm for about three years and I loved every second of it,” Stull said. “About a year ago I moved back home to Kalamazoo, Michigan, living down the street from my folks now. But I can’t scratch the itch unless I come back. I’ve gotten to see everybody around, the course is in great shape, Tim [Huffman] did a great job this year running the whole thing, the greenskeeper had everything going perfect, got to see Ricky at the B&L, you can’t skip all the good stuff.”

Stull turned in an eagle on Hole 1 Saturday and finished the tournament with four birdies and 28 pars, good enough to become a three-time champion in the Championship Flight.

“It’s exciting,” Stull said. “I hadn’t played pretty much any competitive golf for the last year. I got married last year and we moved, and new job, new house, all that fun stuff. First competitive golf I’ve played in a while. Really, I’m just glad I shook the rust off. It was hard out there today, so I’m glad I can still fight through a hard round.”

There’s no guarantee about next year, but Stull said this won’t be his last appearance in the tournament.

“We’ll see about next year, but I’ll be back again,” he said.

Paa ended up recording the most birdies in the tournament with 11.

In the Regular Division’s First Flight, Jeff Ferrell took home the stein with a two-day score of 158. In the Second Flight, Peter Guggisberg turned in a 161 to finish first.

The Third Flight saw Phil Fischer take first with a 166, while the Fourth Flight was won by Paul Roberts, who carded a 134.

In the Senior First Flight, Jerry Boddy shot a two-day total of 145 to take first, while the Senior Second Flight was won by Don Olson, who recorded a 140.

In the Senior Championship Division, Carl Horsch Jr. shot a two-day total of 154 to win the stein.

FINAL RESULTS

(Day 1-Day 2 Total *Championship Flight includes extra nine holes at the end)

*Championship Flight: Lukas Stull 71-77-36 184, Scott Paa 70-78-37 185, Andy Metzen 75-77-35 187, Shane Kvidera 75-76-36 187, Jimmy Fromm 75-78-36 189, Jay Kautt 76-77-37 190, Andrew Peter 79-74-37 190, Colin Huffman 75-80-36 191, Kevin Atnip 77-77-38 192, Aiden Guggisberg 75-79-39 193, Scott Stueber 78-76-40 194, Kelton Schmitz 74-81-41 196, Paul Andersen 78-77-42 197. (Players who didn’t make the cut) Tyler Hirth 75-WD, Nate Weisenberger 92-WD, Jason Wieland 76-81, Brian Reagan 78-80, Matt Pearson 78-81, Ethan Kraus 77-87, Mike Abraham 79-87, Tanner Zupfer 85-82, Owen Strei 81-91.

First Flight: Jeff Ferrell 79-79 158, Ethan Kirchberg 80-80 160, Jack Ballard 81-80 161, Anthony Sanders 83-80 163, Rich Schmitz 79-87 166, Cole Owens 89-78 167, Andy Pettit 85-83 168, Matt Holm 84-86 170, Patrick Reagan 81-89 170, Jack Reagan 86-86 172, Ned Reagan 82-91 173, Ryan Goette 81-92 173, Jason Cohen 88-87 175, Andis Kancans 83-93 176, Joey Schugel 90-86 176, Dave Keinz 85-93 178, Matt Diethert 89-90 179, Nate Voges 85-96 181, Steve Eckstein 94-89 183, Eric Hensler 89-95.

Second Flight: Peter Guggisberg 76-85 161, Jackson Ahlness 82-81 163, Randy Kirchberg 83-84 167, Tom Steinbach 84-84 168, Craig Spelbrink 84-86 170, Todd Liebrenz 87-85 172, Zachary Quiring 85-88 173, Dean Welsch 89-85 174, Ryan Galvin 83-94 177, Mathias Eichten 86-92 178, Adam Loose 83-96 179, Gunnar Cowing 86-95 181, Jake Holm 88-95 183, Craig Larson 95-93 188, Greg Schmitz 91-98 189, Tony Mielke 95-98 193, Bob Skillings 91-103, Teddy Skillings 94-101, Aaron Bode 87-WD.

Third Flight: Phil Fischer 82-84 166, Tony Kliber 82-85 167, Dan Reinhart 80-90 170, Corey Erickson 88-88 176, Tom Portner 92-88 180, Peter Kliber 89-91 180, Tim Berg 90-92 182, Jason Tyler 97-87 184, Tony Sowder 93-96 189, Jordan Schneider 90-100 190, Josh Wyczawski 97-95 192, Adam Larson 99-94 193, Adam Fromm 95-100 195, Adam Watson 94-101 195, Joe Nichols 91-104 195, Josh Holm 101-95 196, Shane Traulich 100-98 198, Joe Benike 101-98 199, Matt Mattice 98-104 202.

Fourth Flight: Paul Roberts 67-67 134, Josh Sabatino 72-74 146, Paul Buboltz 78-71 149, Ron Keim 73-76 149, Nick Taralson 76-75 151, Matt Furth 73-79 152, Gregg Holm 78-76 154, Travis Thorson 76-78 154, Joe Lofgren 66-93 159, Matt Swanson 78-83 161, Patrick Bakken 79-84 163, Kevin Bassett 84-82 166, John Eichten 80-86 166, Peter Eichten 87-80 167, Nicholas Gill 89-80 169, Jason Steele 94-85 179, Jeff Kresh 92-93 185, Casey Lux 93-100 193, Matt Schuetzle 88-WD.

Senior Championship Flight: Carl Forsch Jr. 76-78 154, Tim Andersen 84-79 163, Todd McKeeth 81-84 165, Jim Henning 85-81 166, Ron Atkinson 84-82 166, Jeff Anderson 84-82 166, Darren Anderson 76-93 169, Larry Hahka 87-84 171, Randall Paa 82-89 171, Joe Nordahl 84-91 175, Steve Wyczawski 85-91 176, Dan Janke 89-92 181, Tony Andersen 93-91 184, Dudley Whiteley 88-WD.

Senior First Flight: Jerry Boddy 71-74 145, Brian Messer 79-76 155, Jim Hannegan 78-82 160, Mike Doyle 84-78 162, Pat McCall 79-84 163, Joe Horan 81-84 165, Mike Ballard 86-83 169, Rick Webber 90-82 172, Jeremy Raths WD.

Senior Second Flight: Don Olson 67-73 140, Bruce Gieseke 75-80 155, Gary Kumerfield 74-83 157, Neil Herzog 82-76 158, John Kvidera 74-84 158, Dave Hirth 74-87 161, Ray Sagedal 79-84 163, Jim Gibbons 80-86 166, Dean Warta 74-96 170.