The 37th Annual WPGA Las Vegas Pro-Am wrapped up late last week. It was another great week in Sin City, as a sold out field enjoyed plenty of golf, camaraderie and good times.
Fifty teams from throughout the Wisconsin Section competed across two divisions of play. Golfers from eleven different states made the trek to Las Vegas, while the professional field featured forty-three PGA members and seven PGA associates.
The 2025 edition featured our first venture to Park MGM for the lodging since it was remodeled. As for the golf, both divisions enjoyed a round at Cascata and Rio Secco GC. Then just like last year, the Diamond Division took on the Jack Nicklaus designed SouthShore CC at Lake Las Vegas and the Hearts Division tackled the Robert Trent Jones Jr. and Sr. layout of Southern Highlands GC.
Over the course of the three days the players faced some breezy and challenging conditions. Birdies were hard to come by and teams certainly fought hard to get to the top of the leaderboard.
In the Hearts Division the Blackhawk CC squad of Derek Schnarr, Paul Graham, Brent Reed, Van Stoutt and Scott VanderSanden would earn their second title in the past five years. They would card rounds of 127, 129 and 139 total to shoot 45-under-par 395. The winning total was good enough to hold off the Whitnall Park GC group by just one shot. Each of the three days the fivesome would earn second place finishes in the daily contests, showing off an impressive run of consistency.
On the other side of the draw the Ridgeway CC / High Cliff team of Ryan Helminen, Matt Butch, Tyler Cleaves, Jesse Troestler and Kou Xiong, grabbed the top spot. They would ham and egg their way to the winning total by getting contributions from all five players. Their scores of 120, 138 and 133 totaled up to 47-under-par 391. They would hold off a late charge by the Michael Grossman led group and secure a one shot victory in the end.
The list of the daily team winners across the two groups were:
- Hearts – Monday – Cascata – 2 Net – Whitnall Park GC (Grogan)
- Hearts – Tuesday – Southern Highlands – 1 Net / 1 Gross – The Legend Clubs (Petashnick)
- Hearts – Wednesday – Rio Secco GC – 1,2,3 Net – Whitnall Park GC (Grogan)
- Diamond – Monday – SouthShore – 1 Net / 1 Gross – Ridgeway CC (Helminen)
- Diamond – Tuesday – Rio Secco GC – 1,2,3 Net – Ridgeway CC (Helminen)
- Diamond – Wednesday – Cascata – 2 Net – Missing Links GC (Grossman)
In addition, the event also featured daily low professional stableford events. Earning the win in those competitions were:
- Hearts – Monday – Cascata – James Grogan / Eric Keeler / Derek Schnarr / Matt Hartmann
- Hearts – Tuesday – Southern Highlands – Derek Schnarr
- Hearts – Wednesday – Rio Secco GC – Andy Hansen
- Diamond – Monday – SouthShore – Ryan Helminen
- Diamond – Tuesday – Rio Secco GC – Brad Lanning / Michael Crowley / Michael Grossman
- Diamond – Wednesday – Cascata – Michael Grossman
A big thank you goes out to our event partners, The Suter Ward Group at Morgan Stanley (Vince Suter), TaylorMade Golf (Steve Ploch & Hunter Mahler), and adidas Golf (Matt Flaten). They are a key part of the event and the WPGA greatly appreciates everything they do to enhance the trip.
Las Vegas Pro-Am Results – Hearts Division
Las Vegas Pro-Am Results – Diamond Division