Tournament Recaps

With a doom and gloom forecast, the odds of completing the XXIO Double Dip Pro-Am at the beginning of Monday were not looking good. Fortunately for the participants that made the trek to Oneida G&CC, the storms would stay away just enough for the event to be completed. The event did feature a short delay prior to play starting but overall it turned out to be a very tolerable day.

David Bach’s prodigious length off the tee and his familiarity with the Kohler Co. courses gave him a pair of advantages going into the Wisconsin PGA Match Play Championship. That doesn’t mean it was going to be easy. Match play never is.

The 2024 WPGA pro-am season got underway with a bang on Wednesday as the TaylorMade Pro-Am supported by Tito’s Vodka and the American Family Insurance Championship would visit Erin Hills. It marked the first time that the series has visited Erin Hills and gave the attendees an opportunity to see the course before it officially opened for the season.

The individual slate of events for the Wisconsin PGA would kick off earlier this week at Washington County GC. For the seventh straight year the Assistant Professional Stroke Play and Memorial Classic would highlight a busy Monday. The annual stroke play events would again take place simultaneously, while being supported by the Wisconsin Golf Salespersons Association and Rolex.

For the 23rd time on Wednesday the Wisconsin PGA teamed up with the Wisconsin Golf Course Superintendents Association to present the Premier Golf & Utility Vehicles Super-Pro. After visiting Washington County GC in 2023, the event made the short drive down to highway 83 to let players enjoy the Chenequa Country Club layout.

For the duo of Andy Podolak and David Roesch, their pro-pro success on Monday was just like riding a bike. The old friends had not teamed up in the Spring Pro-Pro Better Ball since 2018, but it didn’t take very long before they were near the top of the leaderboard.

A beautiful spring day greeted the Wisconsin PGA and the participants of the Spring Pro-Pro Scramble on Monday. To say the event was due for one of those days would be an understatement. It marked the first time the event has been played since 2021, after inclement weather forced cancellations the past two years. 

The WPGA Las Vegas Pro-Am came to a close late last week. It was a another terrific week of golf, fellowship, and a whole lot of fun. The field was fortunate to have a nice week of weather and the courses offered some great playing conditions. It marked the ninth straight year the event has featured at least 48 teams. For the first time ever the tournament would feature two completely separate divisions of play. The sold-out 50-team field would be split in two divisions of twenty-five. Divisions were created by random draw during the 2024 WPGA Las Vegas Pro-Am entry lottery.

The Senior PGA Professional Championship wrapped up on Sunday, October 29 at PGA Golf Club. It was another exciting championship, as 264 of the best PGA professionals from throughout the 41 PGA Sections battled it out. In the end Bob Sowards of the Southern Ohio PGA would come out on top and earn his second Senior PGA Professional Championship victory. Over course of the four days the Wisconsin PGA was well represented by Mick Smith, Brad Lanning, Michael Crowley and Kurt Mantyla.

After forty plus events the 2023 Wisconsin PGA tournament season came to a close on Monday. From mid-March until mid-October the WPGA conducted a wide range of event offerings, which were attended by WPGA members and associates plus amateurs and unaffiliated professionals. Over 3,300 participants teed it up along the way, with more than seventy-five of them being recognized as champions with trophies from Sterling Cut Glass.