Write-Up provided by Rob Hernandez (robhernandez.golf@gmail.com) and Wisconsin.Golf
Few country clubs in Wisconsin have enjoyed stability among their PGA head professionals quite as much as Ozaukee Country Club in Mequon, which has had four men serve in that capacity since 1965.
From Bob Brue to Rich Tock to Andy Fish to Jason Rasmussen, the club’s head professionals have presided over dozens of state and local championships. But the Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship has not been among them.
That will change in September when Ozaukee CC plays host to the section’s most prestigious member championship for the first time since 1951. The 2025 WPGA Professional Championship will be played Sept. 15-16 with Mick Smith of Summitt — a seven-stroke winner at the 2024 championship at The Wisconsin CC in Milwaukee — looking to repeat as champion for the second time as he seeks his fourth WPGA Professional title in the last six years.
In unveiling the section’s 2025 schedule Monday, WPGA assistant executive director Chris Hoel said the idea of taking the WPGA Professional Championship to Ozaukee CC was born out of conversations he had with Rasmussen after the success of hosting the 2022 State Open. Ozaukee has been an active host of state events in recent years, having played host to the 2014 State Amateur (won by Alex Gaugert), the 2017 State Senior Amateur (won by Ramiro Romo) and the State Open (won by Daniel Mazziotta in a playoff over Hunter Eichhorn), and Rasmussen believes the event’s place on the calendar will make for a spirited championship just as it did in 1951 when Milwaukee’s Joe Frank shot 70-69 to beat Alvin “Butch” Krueger of Beloit by three strokes for the title.
“He loves how the course plays that time of year,” Hoel said of Rasmussen. “He always speaks fondly of the event and views it as such an important annual event for the section.”
Indeed, it is one of two treasured weeks on the competition schedule for WPGA member professionals, whose calendar is otherwise filled with lessons, outings, leagues and events at their own clubs as golf enjoys unprecedented popularity.
The other will be July 21-22 at The Bog in Saukville, which has played host to the 2004 and 2019 State Senior Open, the 2005 State Women’s Open and 2006 State Open. The WPGA Assistant Professional Championship — a one-day, 36-hole event won last year by Emmet Herb of Blackhawk CC in Madison in a playoff over Drew Ringelstetter of Grand Geneva Resort and Michael Nagy of TPC Wisconsin — will share the stage July 21 with the WPGA Senior Professional Championship (won last year by Smith) before the senior event concludes the next day.
“People are going to have to bring their games to both of those places,” WPGA executive director Joe Stadler said of Ozaukee CC and The Bog. “Ozaukee, from tee to green, is maybe not as much of a differentiator as some courses, although I shouldn’t say that because it’s really important where you hit your ball on those greens. The iron play is huge. It’s not the longest course in the world, but that’s great; it brings other people into play. They’ll be a great host; it was very nice of them to open their doors.”
“And The Bog, we’ve had tournaments there, but not a bigger tournament there for a few years. We’re looking forward to that. That’s a strong test with good finishing holes. We’ve had section championships and State Opens there and there have been some hotly contested battles so I would expect more of the same.”
The announcement of the dates and locations for the WPGA’s three majors are in addition to the three State Opens the section conducts. Dates and sites for the Suter Ward Group at Morgan Stanley Wisconsin State Open (Aug. 18-20 at both courses at Blackwolf Run in Kohler), the Sentry Wisconsin State Women’s Open (June 9-11 at La Crosse CC in Onalaska) and the Wisconsin State Senior Open (Sept. 2-3 at Destination Geneva National’s Player Course) are set well in advance of the annual release of the full calendar of WPGA section events.
The unofficial start to the WPGA tournament season will come Feb. 3 with the X Golf Winter Pro-Am at the X Golf location in Brookfield. Stadler, Gunnar Stapp of Hidden Glen GC in Cedarburg, Michael Crowley of Morningstar GC in Waukesha, Joaquin Diaz of North Shore CC in Mequon and Victor Jacinto of Tuckaway CC in Franklin will captain teams of amateur partners as they play Spyglass Hill GC in Pebble Beach, Calif., on the X Golf simulators.
Ahead of the WPGA season opener in Wisconsin in mid-April, the WPGA will take two divisions of 25 teams captained by WPGA professionals to Las Vegas in March for the WPGA Las Vegas Pro-Am. All teams will play Rio Seco GC and Cascata GC while the Diamond Division finishes at South Shore CC and the Hearts Division at Southern Highlands GC using three net scoring formats.
“Most of the people who go on this trip, their No. 1 priority is they hope it’s nice out and they want to play really, really good golf,” Stadler said of the section’s destination pro-am that has a history spanning more than 35 years. “We’re not really looking to grow that event. We’re looking to make it really good and maintain it at probably at those 50 teams. If we could make it work and not be on the golf course forever, we could go to 55 or 56 (teams).
“The only way that works is if your shotgun (start) goes from 125 people to having 130, 140 or 145 and then you’re going to be out there forever and no one is going to have fun. That’s why we cap it at 50; it’s 125 people on (each) course and it’s still five hours, maybe sometimes 5:15. It’s long enough.”
Besides, there will be ample pro-am opportunities back in Wisconsin, beginning with the National Golf Graphics Pro-Am at West Bend CC at the end of April and continuing most Mondays through the Cheese Pro-Am at Monroe GC in early September. The top three finishers at designated pro-ams will qualify for the season-ending Oliphant Golf Management Pro-Am Championship on the Links Course at the GCs of Lawsonia in Green Lake at the end of September.
Several WPGA member events will start in April and continue through the golf season. Those include: The WPGA Four-Ball Match Play Championship, the WPGA Senior Match Play, the WPGA Senior Four-Ball Match Play and the WPGA Match-Play Championship, which will begin May 12 and 13 at Ridgeway CC in Neenah and finishing at various sites as pairings are known and scheduled.
The 58th Nelthorpe Cup Matches, which pit the state’s top club professionals against the WSGA’s top amateur golfers, will be Aug. 8 at Bishops Bay CC in Middleton. The amateurs won the 2024 matches 46½ to 41½ at Pine Hills CC in Sheboygan, but the professionals hold a 36-21 edge in the series.