 Bremen’s Max Kipfer chips up during a four-way golf meet this spring. Kipfer recently won the Indiana Insurance Agents’ Junior Classic to qualify for the Trusted Choice Big “I” National Championship in July. Pilot file photo By James Costello Sports Editor
BREMEN — Max Kipfer has golf in his blood.
The Bremen High School senior-to-be and Lions’ No. 1 golfer comes from a golf pedigree as the son of Bremen head coach Lon Kipfer. He got his first golf club on his first birthday, and he’s been playing the sport since he could walk and competing since around the age of 10. When he’s not playing, he’s working at the golf course in Bremen.
“I just love it,” he said. “I mean everything about it. I work at the golf course at Sprig O’ Mint, so I’m there all day. I play after work, and I just can’t get enough of it.”
Kipfer’s lifelong passion for the game of golf reached a high point Sunday when he birdied the last hole at Smock Golf Course in Greenwood, topping the field of 45 with a 1-over-par 73 to win the Indiana Insurance Agents’ Junior Classic.
The win — his first tournament victory apart from some age group wins on the Marshall County Junior Tour — qualified Kipfer for the 41st Trusted Choice Big “I” National Championship at Dornick Hills Golf and Country Club in Ardmore, Okla. next month. With no scoreboard at Smock, it also surprised him.
“I was really happy and excited for everything,” he said.
The Big “I” is the largest and third oldest junior golf event in the country and will take place July 25-30. The tournament, which will feature more than 100 boys and 60 girls from 42 different states, is a four-day, 72-hole stroke play event. Following the second round, the field will be cut down to the low 54 boys and 27 girls.
The tourney will also feature a long drive contest with the qualifying attempts — the top 10 boys and top five girls move on to the finals — held during the practice round Sunday, July 25 and the championship held after completion of the third round on Thursday.
Kipfer said he feels he’s turned a corner with his game, and he likes his chances in Ardmore.
“I feel good,” he said. “This is the best golf I’ve ever played. Two days before the (Indiana Junior Classic) tournament I shot my best round I’ve ever had. I just feel like I’m playing good golf, and I have a really good chance.
“Everything’s clicking for me. Just a lot of practice, and I feel like I’m doing everything right.”
His father agrees.
“There’s a little bit more maturity in his game, and strength,” he said. “With maturity you get a little bit bigger and stronger. And experience — he’s not making some of the mistakes he made at a younger age.”
The Indiana Junior Classic is something of a family tradition as Lon played at the tourney in 1975, a fact that he said made the experience of watching his son play there even more special.
The continuity had to feel appropriate to Kipfer, too, since he credits his father with teaching him everything he knows about golf.
“I have that close relationship where he can help me with anything at any time,” Kipfer said. “He taught me everything I know. I like it that he’s my coach and my dad.”
The Big “I” has played host to some big names over the years. Tiger Woods won the tournament in 1990 and 1992, and PGA golfer and Rochester grad Chris Smith — whose wife was tragically killed in an automobile accident over the weekend — won in 1986.
Joining such illustrious company at the 41-year-old tournament is an honor, and it’s also an important milestone for Kipfer, who hopes to play golf in college and beyond.
“It’s a great pleasure for me,” he said.
The national tournament should be an interesting experience for the young golfer. It should also be a lot of fun, for father as well as son.
“We’re going to do a road trip. We’re going to drive to Oklahoma,” said Lon. “We’re really looking forward to it. It’s going to be a great experience for him.”
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