U.S. BANK CHAMPIONSHIP
‘Regular Joe’ wins first PGA Tour title
By Rick Pledl

The fortunes of two pro golfers at different ends of the competitive spectrum intersected at the 16th hole during the final round of the U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee on July 22.

One – veteran Joe Ogilvie, who earned his first PGA Tour title at the U.S. Bank Championship – made eagle. The other – 17-year-old phenom Tony Finau – didn’t, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.

Ogilvie, a resident of Austin, Texas, hit the shot of the tournament in the final round on No. 16 when his sand wedge shot from 120 yards hit the green and spun back 25 feet into the hole. It was reminiscent of the eagle which landed for last year’s champion, Corey Pavin, on the par-4 eighth hole in the final round of the U.S. Bank Championship.

“If you hit enough good shots, and you kind of stay patient and you get a little luck – let’s be honest, the shot on 16 to go in was a little bit lucky – things work out,” Ogilvie said.

The eagle moved Ogilvie to 13 under for the tournament, two shots up on Tim Clark. Ogilvie added what turned out to be an unnecessary birdie on the par-5 18th to finish at 14-under-par 266 (67-63-69-67) with a comfortable four-stroke margin of victory over Clark, Tim Herron and Charlie Wi, who shot 68 in the final round.

In his 230th PGA Tour start, Ogilvie, 37, won $720,000 and 2,250 FedEx Cup points. He had played the U.S. Bank Championship four previous times, and his best finish came in 2002 when he tied for 14th.

Meanwhile, Finau, a resident of Salt Lake City, had one of the first tee times of the final round after recording scores of 75, 65 and 76 through 54 holes, and those scores accurately reflected the young man’s work with the driver. On Thursday he was wild, but he reined it in on Friday before losing control again on Saturday. But that mattered little to a large gallery which followed Finau around Brown Deer Park GC as he shot a final-round 72.

Finau, who shot 64 in a Monday qualifier held at Fire Ridge GC in Grafton to make the U.S. Bank Championship field, wowed Milwaukee fans all week, drilling monstrous drives even on holes where the driver seemed a preposterous club selection, like No. 16, which measures 371 yards on the scorecard. Playing slightly downhill, the 16th features a pond directly in front of the green, making it an all-carry proposition.

That mattered little to Finau. He cleared the pond in all four rounds, finding the green twice, and two-putting both times for birdie.

Though it competed for fan interest – and for players – with the 136th British Open played the same weekend, the U.S. Bank Championship put on another nice party, with many familiar names in the field.

Kenny Perry, who won the tournament in 2003, made his 12th Milwaukee appearance and was in contention once again. Like third-round leader Tim Herron who closed with a 72, Perry was wild off the tee in the final round and shot 71. Perry settled for a four-way tie for fifth place along with Steve Flesch, Bob Heintz and Jeff Maggert.

Mark Wilson led the large contingent of Wisconsin players who always make the field with a tie for ninth. Wilson, a Pewaukee native, shot a final-round 69, as did Appleton native J.P. Hayes, who tied for 22nd.

For the first time since 1989, the tournament was without either Steve Stricker or Jerry Kelly, who both played the British Open instead. But the change in tournament scheduling did bring some unique and interesting players to town, including Jesper Parnevik. Parnevik, who tied for third in 1996 in his only other U.S. Bank Championship appearance, was just four strokes off the lead entering the final 18, but he shot 74 and dropped into a tie for 28th.

And two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer a made his first Milwaukee appearance. Langer shot 69-69 on the weekend to tie for 18th.

Like the fierce weather that plagued most of the Wisconsin State Open, Daniel Woltman came storming in during the final round of the 87th annual tournament in late August.

Threatening skies and lightning halted play at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, and the Wisconsin PGA was forced to finish the usual three-day tournament in four. And while the dark skies opened up on Aug. 23, Woltman, an amateur who transferred from Kentucky to the University of Wisconsin last year, didn’t back down. He closed with a 4-under-par 68 for a four-round total of 281, two strokes ahead of his coach at Wisconsin, Jim Schuman.

“We’re good friends,” Woltman said about his relationship with Schuman. “One of the reasons that I really wanted to come back to the University of Wisconsin is because I wanted to work with him. He’s a great instructor and a great guy.”

Though he played consistent golf throughout the tournament, Woltman, of Beaver Dam, didn’t appear early on to be the most likely to win. He finished each day quietly in third or fourth place, while players like Schuman Mike Johnston made headlines.
    When play was suspended around 5:30 p.m. during the final round, Woltman was three strokes behind Schuman, who was waiting to attempt a 3-foot bogey putt on No. 10. When play resumed the following morning, Schuman, of Verona, made the putt. But at the same time, Woltman, playing in the group ahead of Schuman, Johnston and Ryan Helminen, birdied the 11th, and then the 14th. On the 550-yard par-5 16th, Woltman reached the green in two and two-putted for yet another birdie and a share of the lead.

After recording pars on the final two holes, all the UW junior could do was watch and wait while his coach finished.

Schuman’s tee shot on the 458-yard par-4 18th sailed into long fescue grass on the left. He was forced to take a penalty stroke for an unplayable lie, then pitched out to the fairway. Schuman’s only chance was to hole out from the fairway, but he finished with a double bogey and second place. 

“I was pulling for him ... and I wish it didn’t have to happen the way it did, him making double (bogey) on the last hole,” Woltman said.

As an amateur, Woltman is unable to accept prize money, so he earned $750 in gift certificates in the Blackwolf Run pro shop. That means the $8,250 winner’s check went to Schuman, a two-time Wisconsin State Open champion. With his victory, Woltman became the third amateur in 20 years to win the event. He adds the title to an impressive playing resume. A Wisconsin PGA Junior Championship winner, he also was the 2006 Wisconsin State Amateur champion and runner-up in ’07.

“This is one tournament that I wanted to win,” Woltman said. “Not a lot of people have won the State Am and the State Open in Wisconsin before they’ve turned pro.”

Woltman said the biggest perk of winning is the spot he secured in the 2008 U.S. Bank Championship in Milwaukee. But the 20-year-old said he plans to see how his fall season at the UW goes before he makes a decision about turning pro. He said he doesn’t want to struggle at the professional level, so he will only turn pro once he knows he’s ready.

“That’s where I want to be, that’s where I want to go,” he said. “This victory only helps me get closer to that dream”

Finishing in third place was Rick Witt, the head professional at Madison’s Blackhawk CC, who shot rounds of 71-72-72-70 for a 285 total.

In fourth place was Johnston, the second- and third-round leader. Johnston, of Milwaukee, was at 7 under when the final round began. But by the time it was suspended, he had fallen to 3 under, largely due to the fact that he was assessed a two-stroke penalty for touching his club in the sand during a bunker shot on No. 7. Johnston thus recorded an 8 on the par-5 hole. He closed with a 79 and finished at 288 (69-73-67-79), bringing home $3,800.

Rounding out the top-five were Nicholas Byom of Pewaukee, Michael Harris of Shorewood and Mark Schneider of Onalaska, who recorded 289s.

Helminen also faltered during the final round. Alone in third place at the start of the round, He made two birdies while racking up one bogey, three double bogeys and one triple bogey. He finished with an 8-over 80 and tied for 11th at 292.

Defending State Open champion and Nationwide Tour player Jon Turcott, a Middleton native, withdrew from the event the day before play was to begin. He was scheduled to play in a Nationwide tournament that began the day after the State Open was supposed to end, but he was unable to secure a flight to get him there in time.

Moore, the 45-year-old from Menominee, Mich., held off a field of young players and took home the trophy at the Wisconsin Women’s Stroke Play Championship at The Oaks GC in Cottage Grove in July. The former Class A PGA professional finished four strokes ahead of the competition at 1-over-par 214.

Leading Katie Elliott and Molly Schemm by two strokes heading into the final round, Moore was never in real danger of losing her advantage. And she wasn’t thinking about it either.

“I wasn’t even concentrating on that,” Moore said. “I was just trying to focus on one shot at at time and just trying to get in the hole. (During round two) I bogeyed the last two coming in in the afternoon to shoot 71, so I was just trying to give myself looks at birdies.”

It seemed like Moore might pull away from the field after she recorded a birdie on the 442-yard par-5 No. 6, but she came back and double-bogeyed the 160-yard par-3 seventh. Regardless, Moore’s plan seemed to have worked to her advantage during the final round of the tournament co-sponsored by the Wisconsin Women’s State Golf Association and the Wisconsin Women’s Public Links Golf Association. She recorded two birdies and one eagle during the final 18 holes and closed with a 1-over-par 72.

“I was pretty consistent,” said Moore, who shot 71-71-72. “I made a lot of putts. I made a lot of 3-, 4-footers. I made a nice one for birdie on 14. I had some really good iron shots, gave myself a lot of looks at birdies. I played like a real golfer every day.”

Elliott, the 2006 champion, finished second after shooting rounds of 75-69-74 for a 218 total. The senior on the University of Wisconsin women’s golf team hung tight with Moore all day but never really had an opportunity to take the lead.

“I didn’t hit it quite as solid (in the final round),” Elliott said. “I still managed to hit a lot of fairways and a lot of greens, but putting was horrendous. Putting is what cost me. I just had to keep plugging away at it, but they just weren’t dropping.”

Elliott, who plays out of Madison’s Nakoma GC, said she knew Moore was playing well, and she told herself before the final round that she’d have to shoot par or under to win. She considers the par-71 course a par-69 since two of the par-5 holes are shorter than most. So Elliott thought shooting below par was “doable.”

“I thought anything between 69 and 71 might do it,” she said.

It would have, but it didn’t happen for Elliott. The 21-year-old recorded four bogeys and just one birdie during the final 18 holes, for a 3-over 74.

One stroke behind Elliott was Schemm, 19, who plays out of Koshkonong Mounds CC in Fort Atkinson and for the University of Northern Iowa. She finished at 6-over 219 (75-69-75).

Green Bay CC’s Kelsey Verbeten, Elliott’s teammate at the UW, tied for fourth with Maggie Leef, who plays out of The Bog in Saukville, at 223. Rounding out the top five was Kenosha’s Carly Werwie, who is joining Elliott and Verbeten on the UW’s women’s golf team as a freshman this fall. She shot rounds of 77-78-70 for a 225 total.

Moore, who regained her amateur status in 1998, was a 2006 Women’s Stroke Play runner-up and the winner three times from 2002-04.

She plays out of Riverside CC in Menominee, just across the state line in Upper Michigan.

Riverside has long been a Wisconsin State Golf Association member club, which means its members maintain handicaps through the WSGA. Moore is allowed to compete in Wisconsin amateur events because she relinquished her right to play Michigan amateur tournaments.

Max Hosking started the final round of the Wisconsin State Golf Association Junior Boys Champ-ionship, presented by Culver’s, on the first day of August with a blazing putter, and finished with a smoking hot driver – a deadly combination which lifted him to a come-from-behind victory at the Bull at Pinehurst Farms in Sheboygan Falls.

Hosking, a 17-year-old who plays out of Odana Hills GC in Madison, shot 74-74-71–219 to win the title. But to do it he had to survive a furious finish by Matt Haase of Medford. Haase, 18, closed with a round of 69 to tie Hosking at 3-over-par 219. Hosking then won on a one-hole, sudden-death playoff.

Hosking entered the final round trailing Chad Ebert of Kenosha by three shots. In the third-to-last group of the day, Hosking got off to a torrid start with front-nine birdies on Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 7. Afterward, he couldn’t help but laugh and shrug his shoulders while talking about those four birdie putts, which averaged nearly 20 feet in length.

“My putter got hot right away,” he said. “I made a lot of bombs to start the round.”

Hosking’s momentum stalled briefly when he hit a fat wedge shot on the par-5 eighth into a creek in front of the green, resulting in a double bogey. He then parred his way in on the final 10 holes to finish off a round of 71.

Hosking got into the playoff with Haase thanks to a smart decision he made on the par-4 18th hole. After pulling his drive into long grass left of the fairway on 18, Hosking was prepared to go for the green with his 7-iron, until he heard that little voice in his head.

“It was a pretty crappy lie,” he said. “I don’t think I could have got it to the green, and I just realized it could be devastating if I mess up at all.”

So Hosking grabbed his 52-degree wedge instead and gouged his way out of the grass. He failed to get up and down, however, and settled for bogey.

Haase, now a member of the Marquette University golf team, shot a back-nine 32 to get back in contention and tie Hosking at 219.

“Shooting a 74 and 76 the first two days, I just wanted to shoot a good round and get back in it,” said Haase. “I was hoping for top 5 if I shoot a couple under. So I was happy with the way I played today.”

But unfortunately for Haase, the one-hole playoff didn’t go his way.  He began with a drive which missed the fairway right and bounded into a lateral water hazard.

“It was just a bad swing,” he said. “I’ve kind of been struggling with left-to-right shots.”

Haase took a drop and still had 140 yards to the green. He hit it to about 25 feet and missed the par putt which would have sent the playoff to a second hole.

Hosking, meanwhile, played the playoff hole nearly to perfection, beginning with a terrific drive which traveled about 350 yards down the right-center of the fairway, leaving only 75 yards into the ninth green.

“There wasn’t much pressure,” Hosking said of his drive in the playoff. “I already had a good tournament so far. I would have been really happy with second place coming into this tournament. And I just stood over it and put the same swing on it I have all week, and I just pounded it.”

Hosking finished off the victory with a wedge shot to the ninth green and a routine two-putt, a rarity in a round of golf which he called “all over the place.”

“When I hit it on the green, I made the birdie putt, usually,” he said. “And if I
didn’t, I just didn’t make par.”

A senior at Madison La Follette, Hosking will see where the college recruiting carousel takes him. He said he had spoken to University of Wisconsin coach Jim Schuman, and he expected to do so again, although no formal offers had  been made. Obviously, owning the State Junior title can’t hurt when it comes to attracting offers.

Tied for third place overall at 221 were defending champion Kelly Kretz of Riverview GC in Antigo (72-78-71) and Michael Sorenson of Hartland (69-78-74). Tied for fifth at 222 were Sam Frank of Oconomowoc (79-74-69) and Bo Van Handel of Ledgeview GC in De Pere. Ebert finished alone in seventh at 224 (74-71-79).

Matthew Ross of Rolling Hills CC in Oconomowoc won the 14-and-under division with scores of 79-78-73–230. The 15-16 division was won by Sorenson and the 17-18 division was won by Hosking.

In the popular long-drive contest held each year following the second round of the State Junior, Frank belted a 339-yard drive to win the 15-and-older category. Ryan Prickette of Butte des Morts CC in Appleton finished just two yards behind at 337. Kyle Shafer of Spring Valley GC won the 14-and-under division with a drive of 316 yards.

Thanks to the long-drive contest and the Culver’s connection – company president Craig Culver was on hand as usual to give out the awards and distribute restaurant coupons – the WSGA Junior is always a festive affair, and Hosking is already looking forward to 2008, when the tournament comes to Nakoma GC in Madison not far from his home course, Odana Hills GC.

“It’s a really good, really tight course,” Hosking said of Nakoma. “I don’t know if I’m going to play too well there. That’s a course where you really have to keep it in the fairway.”

Gary Menzel used to get some ribbing from a fellow club member on his lack of success in the Wiscon-sin State Golf Association Senior Amateur Champion-ship. Poor Gary, he had only won the Senior Amateur five times, while Frank Tenfel, like Menzel a current member of The Bog in Saukville, had notched six victories.

Tenfel will have to find something else to talk about now, following No. 6 for Menzel at Stevens Point CC in mid August. Menzel earned a one-stroke victory over Mike Hilton of Rivermoor CC in Waterford in what Menzel called the best ball-striking performance of his life.

“It was the best I’ve ever hit the ball,” Menzel said. “People who know me know that I don’t usually strike the ball like that. I hit it well the first day, too, but I couldn’t make any putts.”

Menzel, 63, entered the final round in fourth place after a first-round 72, three shots behind Mark Bemowski of Johnson Park GC in Racine, who opened with a 69.

Menzel was still at even-par on the 14th tee after notching 13 straight pars to open the final round. But then Menzel reeled off four birdies in the final five holes, and in doing so vaulted past Bemowski and Hilton. Menzel finished at 4-under-par 140, and his final-round 68 was the low score of the tournament.

With a laugh, Menzel recounted his fortuitous putt on the final hole.

“I knew I was at least in a playoff, so I just wanted to two-putt on 18, but it went in,” he said.

Menzel, who is a member of the WSGA Hall of Fame, also won the Senior Amateur in 1999 and 2000, and he added three straight titles from 2002 to 2004. Tenfel, formerly a member at West Bend CC, won his six titles in the years 1982-90. The WSGA Senior Amateur was first contested in 1981.

Menzel also took home the Super Seniors title, for players ages 63-69. Phil Plautz Sr. of Rainbow Springs GC in Mukwonago was second (76-77–153). In the Legends division, for players 70 and older, John Kaufman of Tuckaway CC in Franklin won with rounds of 73-77–150.

For Stu Grendahl, the front nine during his championship match at the Wisconsin State Golf Association Senior Match Play Championship in July was an up and down ride that included three bogeys and four birdies.

His opponent’s game was much more consistent. Mark Bemowski shot par on all but one hole during that first nine. It was on the 440-yard par-4 ninth that Bemowski recorded a double bogey that essentially cost him the match.

Grendahl and Bemowski went on to play a rather uneventful back nine, both making par on every hole. In the end, Grendahl, who plays out of Madison’s Cherokee CC, beat Bemowski 1-up and took home the Thomas C. Huset trophy at Kenosha CC.

“I played well in this tournament for the most part,” Grendahl said. “I think my overall scores throughout the tournament demonstrate that I was playing pretty well.”

After bogeying the first two holes, Grendahl became worried about his game and about playing the more accomplished Bemowski, 61, a member of the WSGA Hall of Fame.

“Two down after two to Bemowski is not a good situation,” he said.

But Grendahl pushed aside his worries and recorded birdies on Nos. 2, 3 and 4, going 1-up. From there on, Grendahl described the match as a “grind,” and he didn’t feel relief until the ball was in the hole on No. 18. Now the winner of two WSGA events – he won the WSGA Senior Championship in 2006 – Grendahl feels like he has a right to be competing.

“There’s some validation that I’m evidentally not terrible,” he said. “It makes me feel good that I have demonstrated some ability. You can’t say one (win) was a fluke.”

On the ninth tee, Bemowski hit his drive to the left and got tangled up in some trees. He didn’t have much of a shot, and he wound up making a 6 on the par-4. In the meantime, Grendahl’s tee shot ricocheted off a tree and back into the fairway, from where he made birdie. Bemowski had no way of knowing at the time the importance of that particular hole.

“It’s just one hole in the match, and what can you say?” Bemowski said. “It could have been any other hole after that.”

Bemowski could have been referring to No. 18, when he and Grendahl both hit their approach shots to within 15 feet of the hole, with Grendahl’s about an inch behind Bemowski’s. Grendahl’s putt was off, but he gave Bemowski an advantage by showing him the line. Bemowski’s putt for birdie would have forced a playoff, but it stopped just right of the cup.

“Stu played well and put on a great demonstration of clutch putting,” Bemowski said. “That’s what match play is. You do what you’ve gotta do when you gotta do it.”

Grendahl, 56, made his way to the championship match by defeating Charles Randolph of Brown Deer Park GC in Milwaukee, 6 and 5; Jim Rollefson of Tuckaway CC in Franklin, 5 and 4; Gary Menzel of The Bog in Saukville, 2 and 1; and Rick Bauch of Oconomowoc GC, 3 and 2.

On his way to the championship round, Bemowski, who plays out of Johnson Park GC in Racine and won the tournament in 2004, defeated David Boyd of Washington County GC in Hartford, 6 and 5; Jim Covelli of Meadowbrook CC in Racine, 1-up; Marc Casper of Morningstar GC in Waukesha, 5 and 4; and David Johnson of Oconomowoc GC, in 19 holes.

In Super-Senior competition for players 65 and older, Archie Dadian of Johnson Park GC defeated Jim Bakken of Blackhawk CC in Madison for the title, 4 and 2.

As a member of the PGA of America, and as a woman, Carolyn Barnett-Howe admits she doesn’t get to compete against other women very often, so when the Wisconsin State Women’s Open rolls around each summer, it’s a tournament Barnett-Howe is eager to play.

Barnett-Howe, a resident of Appleton, won her third straight State Women’s Open, and fourth overall, at Northern Bay Golf Resort in Arkdale at the end of June. After claiming her latest trophy, Barnett-Howe admitted it wasn’t getting any easier.

She began the final round with a one-stroke lead over Katie Connelly of Beloit and Molly Schemm of Fort Atkinson. Connelly played professionally on the Futures Tour until recently, and Schemm is an amateur and a member of the women’s team at the University of Northern Iowa.

“It was almost like we were playing Old Maid, and I was just the last one to catch the lead,” said Barnett-Howe of the way the final holes unfolded.

All three players held narrow leads down the stretch, but they took turns spitting the bit. Connelly still held a one-stroke lead over Barnett-Howe and Schemm on the 18th tee, and that’s where things really got exciting.

Connelly and Schemm both found the left rough off the tee, but Barnett-Howe hit a terrific drive straight down the middle.

“I like 18 as a driving hole for me,” she said. “When Katie and Molly hit in the rough, I knew I could hit in the fairway there. And then I was just hoping for a birdie on my end or maybe a par and a playoff.”

Both Connelly and Schemm chose to lay up on their second shots, but Connelly had trouble gouging her ball from the rough and it sailed into the pond on the right side of the fairway. She took a drop, hit it to 8 feet and missed her putt for a double bogey. Schemm also missed her par putt from about 7 feet and settled for bogey.

That left Barnett-Howe as the last woman standing. She dropped a nervous 3-footer for par on 18 to finish at 146 (71-75) with a one-stroke victory over Connelly (72-75–147) and Schemm (73-74–147). Tied for fourth were pro Andrea Wieland of Milton (75-76–151) and amateur Jessie Hauser of Hartland (78-73–151).

Barnett-Howe, 45, said: “I don’t envision that defending my title is going to get any easier.”

With so many young players competing – it was the largest field ever to participate in the Wisconsin Women’s State Open – Barnett-Howe took a moment at the awards ceremony to thank all the mothers and grandmothers who lent their support during the tournament. Choking up briefly, she explained that it was her mom, who passed away recently, who taught her to play golf.

Connelly also rekindled some memories simply by playing among friends in Wisconsin and not on some far-flung, pressure-filled developmental tour.

“I haven’t been practicing at all,” Connelly said. “I would have loved to win, but hey, that’s why I quit playing professionally. I can just go home now instead of getting in my car and driving to Connecticut.”