Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2010 - 17

(MGAprofile)
Head of the Klass(e)
For Minnesota golf legend
Leigh Klasse, winning golf
tournaments never gets old.
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Leigh Klasse was the runner up at the 2009 MGA Women's Mid-Am.
L
eigh Klasse is not approaching being 50 with her usual
quiet demeanor and gritty resolve.
" Watch out, Claudia, " Klasse exclaimed as the Minnesota
golf season was about to start. " I'm eligible to play with the
Seniors this year, and I'm coming after you. "
Claudia is Claudia Pilot, both a foe and a pal of Klasse's in the
state amateur golf ranks. They have battled during numerous
state championships and have been teammates at least four times
in the Minnesota Women's Public Golf Association Four-Ball
Championship-winning three times and finishing second once.
" One of the things I really enjoy about playing golf in Minnesota
is that you compete as hard as you can to beat your opponents,
and when the match or round is over, you're good friends
and enjoy each other's company, " Klasse says.
The competition between Klasse and Pilot pits two of the best
amateur women who have ever played golf in Minnesota
against each other. There are many heralded
women players in Minnesota golf history, from
Gertrude Dansingberg and Bea Barrett Altmeyer
to Joan Garvin and the late Bev Vanstrum.
Dansingberg won 11 state major titles. Altmeyer
won 10, Garvin won 16 and
Vanstrum captured 17.
There are now more opportunities
to win state
championships, in Mid-Amateur,
Senior Amateur, Four-Ball
and Team categories. Klasse has
amassed 20 major championships at various levels (Pilot has 25)
and has also finished as a runner-up 20 times. She has qualified
for the U.S. Women's Publinks, conducted by the USGA, 22 times
and has qualified for the U.S. Women's Mid-Am nine times.
Not bad for a golfer who was given clubs by her grandfather,
Ernest Bertels, at the age of 12. " He gave me the clubs and a few
pointers to get me going, " Klasse says. " I always enjoyed the game.
It was just you. It was make or break, and only you were in control.
I really enjoyed practicing. I still do enjoy going to the range.
There's a kind of solitude. Kind of getting away from everything. "
Klasse graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree
in coaching and physical education. She played volleyball
and softball at Southwest State before transferring to Minnesota
in 1980. She tried out for the Gophers golf team and qualified to
play during her second and third years. One of her teammates was
Nancy Harris Blanchard, another state standout amateur.
After graduating, Klasse coached high school softball and volleyball
at Irondale. Eventually, she became an IT specialist at Alliance
Life Insurance. She has also raised two sons-Simon, 21, a
junior at University of Minnesota-Duluth, and Zachary, 16, a high
school junior at St. Anthony.
There is one victory that means more than the rest to Klasse. In
2001, she joined Pilot on the Minnesota team for the USGA's Team
Championship, played at Woodhill Country Club. The Minnesota
team captured the national title-and Pilot was the medalist.
" Any time you get your name on a trophy for a USGA event, "
Klasse says, " it really means a lot. Winning always means a lot. "
And Klasse has done a lot of winning.
( The Leigh Klasse File
Home golf club: Meadowbrook. " Even though I live in St. Anthony, I belong to Meadowbrook. I met Pat
Rogers in 1985 and enjoyed playing golf here, and she belonged to Meadowbrook. I like the course, and I've
met a lot of people there who I like, so that's where I've played. "
Holes in one: " I've had two. The first was on the eighth hole at the Slayton Golf Club when I was young
and just beginning to play. The second was at Cumberland, Wis., near our cabin. "
Best score: " I remember shooting 142 or 143 in one of the State Publinks championships, and one of my
rounds was a 70. That's the best medal score I've ever had. I've never broken 70. "
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Summer 2010 MINNESOTAGOLFER
15
PHOTO BY MATT SEEFELDT
PHOTO BY MARK BRETTINGEN

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Minnesota Golfer - Summer 2010

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