Archive for September 2024

Mick Smith is on some kind of roll late in the 2024 Wisconsin competitive golf season – a fact that the Australia native proved once and for all Tuesday in the final round of the Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship.

All Smith did Tuesday was shoot his second straight round of 66 at Wisconsin CC in Milwaukee to win the Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship for the third time in his career, this time by a robust margin of seven strokes.

After posting seven birdies and a lone bogey in shooting 66 Monday, Smith actually played better in the final round, if that’s possible. On Tuesday, Smith had a clean card while recording six birdies.

Smith’s dominant performance at Wisconsin CC was merely another gem in his season of sparkling moments. Just in the last two months, the 51-year-old Smith won the Wisconsin Senior PGA Professional Championship (at Reedsburg CC in the middle of July) and the Wisconsin State Senior Open (at North Shore GC last week).

“I got a good swing-thought before the (State Senior Open), and sometimes swing-thoughts don’t last long because things change,” Smith said with a laugh. “I’ve been hitting the ball very well the last few weeks through both tournaments and hitting the ball with very good control.”

However, Smith’s torrid play over the second half of the summer was interrupted about a month ago because of a chronic problem in his lower back. He said he spent a week in bed in the middle of August before his chiropractor got him back on his feet.

After Monday’s first round at Wisconsin CC, Smith held a two-stroke lead over Jamie Christianson of Horseshoe Bay GC and Matt Goodson of Blue Mound G&CC, who both opened with rounds of 68.

Thus, Smith, Christianson and Goodson comprised the final threesome for the final round. While Goodson fell off the pace rather early, Christianson did his best to battle Smith to the end, and the level of iron play between the two on the back nine was truly impressive. Both players had numerous birdie attempts inside 15 feet on their way in, but Smith had a couple more than his playing partner.

“I struck the ball OK today, and I was happy with the way I putted,” Christianson said. “On a golf course like this, you really need to have some ball control. I played well, but all credit to Mick.”

Smith said his game plan for the final round was, hopefully, to get off to a strong start and not drop any shots, which he was able to do.

“The worst thing you can do is fall back toward the pack,” he said. “I thought if I could get off to a decent start, make some birdies and maybe a birdie here and there, then it’s awfully hard to catch me. So I was just doing my best to keep the ball below the hole because the greens have a lot of slope and are very fast here.”

Christianson started the final round by going 2 over on his first three holes Tuesday, but he eagled the par-5 fifth hole and birdied the seventh to stay in the hunt. Problem was, Smith was still going forward, which he said was his goal for the day, with three straight birdies on Nos. 3-5.

The par-3 11th hole is the shortest hole on the course, playing at 142 yards for the final round. but it had a big impact on the tournament when Smith made birdie while Christianson made bogey after hitting in the front bunker off the tee. He almost holed his sand shot for birdie, but then missed his 8-foot putt for par.

“I had the right club there, but I just mishit it and put it in the bunker,” Christianson said. “That was a huge turning point, to lose two strokes on a little, getable par-3 like that.”

Smith rolled in a 20-footer for his birdie on 11, and then birdied No. 12, too, and carried an eight-stroke lead into the final six holes.

Christianson made two more birdies on the day, but it wasn’t enough.

Smith, who operates Mick Smith Golf, finished at 12-under-par 132 to win by seven strokes over Christianson (68-71) and Jason Tipton of Chenequa CC (73-66) who tied for second at 139. Tipton matched Smith for a low score of the second round.

Tied for second at 141 were Jim Schuman of Blue Mound G&CC (69-72) and Michael Crowley of Morningstar GC (72-69).

Five berths into the 2025 PGA Professional Championship were also on the line this week at Wisconsin CC. The top five finishers – Smith, Christianson, Tipton, Schuman and Crowley – earned those exemptions into the event at PGA Golf Club in Port St. Lucie, Fla., scheduled next April., where they might earn a spot in the 2025 PGA Championship.

It has been another busy week of Wisconsin PGA tournaments. We take a look back to Tuesday and the return of our Assistant Professional Fall Classic.

If you weren’t there to see the shots and just looked at the hole-by-hole scores in the final round of the 40th Wisconsin State Senior Open, you might conclude that Mick Smith simply outlasted the competition and was the last man standing.