“We’re going to Ireland!” said Marc Engellenner, turning to his girlfriend, Sophia, after he hit the clinching bunker shot in a playoff at the second annual Golf Digest Open, played at Streamsong Resort in Bowling Green, Fla., in November. Engellenner and his partner Drazen Trkulja (ter-kool-yuh), both former mini-tour pros from California, shot nine-under over 36 holes in the best-ball format to earn the playoff berth before winning the National Championship on the first extra hole.
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“On the way down, I’m like, Just hit it fat,” Engellenner said of his chunk-and-run bunker shot in the playoff. “I took a divot a foot long behind the ball just to get it out and of course, it comes out perfectly.” The pair advanced through regional qualifying at El Caballero C.C. and defeated 23 teams for the national title. With the victory, the two won a golf trip to Ireland courtesy of Irish Golf Tours, which includes a stay at the Killeen Castle Cottages just outside Dublin and five rounds of golf at some of the country’s top courses.
Trkulja (left) and Engellenner (right) celebrate after winning the 2024 Golf Digest Open in a playoff.
Will Fullerton
“It felt so good to get one done, especially a national open with a huge grand prize. I shed a tear,” said Trkulja, 34, who has come a long way since immigrating to the United States with his mom and brother as war refugees from Serbia in the 1990s. Trkulja, who was six at the time, didn’t know any English, except for one phrase. “The only thing I knew how to say was ‘I don’t know how to speak English,’ ” he recalled.
When Trkulja went to a driving range for the first time in seventh grade, he “hit that one perfect shot and instantly got hooked.” He played on his local high school team but admits he “wasn’t very good at all,” until after graduating, when he began to shoot some low numbers. Trkulja turned professional and played on local mini-tours for a few years but saw limited success. “I made just shy of four grand in those two years, which isn’t anything stellar, but at least I can say I did it,” said Trkulja, who got his amateur status back and now works at a construction company.
With their win, Trkulja (left) and Engellenner (right) earned return trips to Streamsong for the 2025 Golf Digest Open.
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Trkulja was working as an assistant pro at Diamond Oaks G. Cse., a muny just outside Sacramento, when he met Engellenner in 2016. Like Trkulja, Engellenner gave pro golf a try after high school. “In August of ’97 I shot the course record at my home course and turned professional shortly thereafter—a terrible mistake for a 19-year-old idiot kid,” Engellenner, now 47, said with a laugh. After about a decade of playing California mini-tours, Engellener transitioned to the insurance business and, like Trkulja, got his amateur status reinstated.
The duo now plays several times a year in four-ball events, like the Golf Digest Open, which they say offer exciting competition without being too stressful. “It’s not the quiet, serious trunk-slamming of a mini-tour event or a USGA event where the course is set up really tough,” Engellenner, who has played in four U.S. Mid-Amateurs, said of the Golf Digest Open. “But it’s also not a hit-and-giggle member-guest invitational either. It’s a perfect combo.”
Engellenner walks in the final putt to win the National Championship and a trip to Ireland.
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The relaxed yet competitive vibe is helped in part by having a net division in addition to the gross title. New Yorkers Ryan O Neill and Patrick Tansey defended their title on the net side, shooting 23-under to win by three shots at Streamsong to go along with their victory in the inaugural Golf Digest Open at PGA Frisco in 2023.
O Neill, a 27-year-old firefighter from Yonkers, credits this year’s victory to a relaxed mindset. “I was more nervous the first time. This year, I just went out and had fun,” he said. O Neill came to Streamsong with a 13 Handicap Index, down from 16 a year prior, which paired with Tansey’s 7 Index to make a formidable net pairing. “It was definitely a ham-and-egg [situation]. We live so close to each other that we’re always golfing together,” O Neill said. “We knew exactly how to play from years prior. I always said to Pat, ‘It’s all about playing for a par.’ I was always saying to myself, Five is the worst score I want.”
O Neill (center left) and Tansey (center right) have won the net title in each of the first two Golf Digest Opens.
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O Neill and Tansey, a 27-year-old bartender, met as kids playing soccer and Gaelic football and have been close ever since, bound in part by their mutual Irish heritage. In fact, Tansey’s dad and O Neill’s mom are from the same county, Leitrim, in Ireland. It’s no surprise, then, that both are thrilled to head to the Emerald Isle next summer. “We’ll have a good time,” O Neill said with a smile.
With their wins, both teams earned exemptions into the 2025 Golf Digest Open. Want to join them? Sign up for a regional qualifier at golfdigest.com/open! Spots are limited.
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This article was originally published on golfdigest.com
