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July 25, 2008
WISCONSIN STATE AMATEUR
 After recording a round of 75 on Wednesday, Bendt Bendtsen III returned to his birdie-making ways Thursday at Old Hickory GC in Beaver Dam and won the 107th Wisconsin State Amateur Championship, presented by Tiziani Golf Car Corp.
The 22-year-old player from The Racine CC played an almost error-free round while making five birdies and a single bogey – then another key birdie in sudden death – which allowed him to chase down his two playing partners in the final group, Danny Zimmerman and Kelly Kretz. Bendtsen’s 68 Thursday was the low score of the final round.
“I just wanted to get off to a good start today because I started off pretty bad all three (earlier) rounds,” Bendtsen said of his thoughts entering the final round. “I just wanted to get a couple under on the first five or six holes. I was hoping to shoot in the 60s somewhere; I figured that would be good enough.”
Bendtsen, who earlier this summer won the Ray Fischer Amateur Championship, also in a playoff, shot 69-69-75-68–281 to finish at 7 under par and win his first Wisconsin State Amateur title.
It was the biggest victory in a career that has included just one year of collegiate golf at UW-Parkside and only a couple earlier starts in the State Am. Bendtsen describes himself as a recreational golfer who this season has taken time off from the Bendtsen family kringle bakery in Racine to play more tournament golf. His dad, Bendt Bendtsen Jr., served as his caddie in the final round.
“I’ve always played good golf, I just never entered many tournaments," Bendtsen said.
Kretz, a member of the Marquette University golf team who plays out of Riverview GC in Antigo, began the final round of the State Amateur with a one-stroke lead over Zimmerman and a three-stroke cushion over Bendtsen.
Kretz made birdie on the first hole to gain another stroke, but he relinquished his lead on the par-5 fourth hole when his drive went out of bounds on the right and he made double bogey. He eventually stumbled to a round of 78 and finished seven shots out of the Bendtsen-Zimmerman playoff.
Zimmerman, a member of the University of Wisconsin golf team, held the lead down the stretch after making a birdie on No. 15 as both Bendtsen and Kretz made bogey. Bendtsen finally drew even on the tournament’s 72nd hole, when he hit a wedge from inside 75 yards to just inches. The ball almost went in the hole for eagle and the win, but Bendtsen settled for the tap-in birdie and the tie.
“He was one ahead on the last hole so I knew I had to make birdie,” Bendtsen said. “When I hit it, I knew it was going to be really good. It just came off perfect.”
Bendtsen and Zimmerman both made par on the first playoff hole, the par-5 18th, so they then moved to the 390-yard par-4 first hole. There, Bendtsen busted a long drive to the left side of the fairway, leaving another short wedge to the green. He knocked it to 5 feet and made the birdie putt after Zimmerman missed his birdie chance.
For the week, Zimmerman shot consistent scores of 68-70-73-70–281. Kretz shot 71-70-69-78–288 and settled for third.
Defending champion Travis Meyer of River Falls GC finished fourth (74-72-72-72–290).
For complete scores, go to www.wsga.org.
More State Am coverage:Round 1: Zimmerman takes the lead
Round 2: Zimmerman and Bendtsen lead the way
Round 3: Kretz takes over
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