SUMMER SHOWDOWN
EVENT PARTNERS
For the fifth straight season the Wisconsin PGA and Wisconsin State Golf Association teamed up to present the WSGA / WPGA Summer Showdown on Monday. The invitation only event featured another great field, as 74 golfers with Wisconsin ties teed it up. This year’s event gave the talented field a chance to tame the demanding Highlands Course at Grand Geneva Resort.
With temperatures in the high eighties and little to no wind the players were able to take dead aim and try to go as low as possible. Finding their way to the top of the leaderboard after all the scores were posted was the trio of Peter Webb, Evan Wartgow and Emmet Herb. Each player was able to card an impressive 6-under-par 65 to propel them into a hole-by-hole playoff for the crown. The extra golf would mark the third time in the event’s short history that a playoff was needed to decide a champion.
This overtime session would produce quite the battle as a victor was not determined until the seventh playoff hole. Outlasting the other two competitors and coming out on top was former Valparaiso golfer Peter Webb.
The demanding playoff would kick off on the par 4, 16th hole. After a great chance by Webb to end the playoff quickly, the threesome matched pars and headed to the next hole. Shortly thereafter the contest was whittled down to two as Herb three-putted the par 3, 17th. Webb and Wartgow would then produce a back and forth fight over the course of the next four holes, featuring matching pars on three holes and birdies on the other.
That battle would then come to an end on the par 3, 4th. With water looming on each side of the hole and in front of the green, Wartgow was first to play. From 193 yards he struck his shot to the left side of the green, but left himself 40 plus feet to the hole. It would turn out to be a birdie attempt he could not convert.
With a chance to end it Webb hit a six iron that never left the flag.
“It was just a good number and I knocked it to five feet,” Webb said. “I thought I missed the putt and I was fortunate it caught the right edge and went in.”
The birdie gave the Madison native the win and with it came $2,000 first place prize check.
“I did a little bit of everything today to get the job done,” Webb said. “I was fortunate to only miss one fairway and one green all day.”
With an 18th place finish at last week’s Iowa Open and the Summer Showdown win, Webb is primed to put up a good performance at next week’s Morgan Stanley Wisconsin State Open at North Shore Golf Club in Menasha.
A big thank you goes out to TaylorMade & adidas Golf along with Steve Ploch, Eric Gitter and Matt Flaten for their support of the event for the fifth straight season. With their help the day was once again well received by all the attendees.
The WPGA and WSGA would also like to express our appreciation to the staff at Grand Geneva Resort. The club once again did a great job of hosting a Wisconsin PGA & Wisconsin State Golf Association event.