WPGA PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
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WPGA PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
WPGA PROFESSIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP
SUPPORTING SPONSORS
Write-Up Provided by the Rick Pledl (pledl@mailbag.com) and Wisconsin.Golf
Events can unfold quickly when you’re young, but even Sam Weatherhead had to admit that his last few weeks have been a whirlwind. On Tuesday, the 31-year-old professional won the much-coveted Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship – just about two weeks after earning his Class A PGA of America membership.
Weatherhead, who lives in Hartford, pulled away on the back nine Tuesday to claim the Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship on the Pines Course at Lake Arrowhead GC in Nekoosa. Weatherhead shared the first-round lead after his opening 68 on Monday, and he added a round of 70 Tuesday in wet, windy conditions, which was the day’s only round under-par. He finished the 36-hole event at 6-under-par 138.
His play on the back nine Tuesday propelled Weatherhead to a four-stroke win over Jamie Christianson of Horseshoe Bay GC, who shot rounds of 70-72 to finish at 142. Michael Nagy of TPC Wisconsin finished third at 143 (69-74).
Weatherhead, who works at a family-owned bar-restaurant-golf facility in Oconomowoc called Links & Drinks Indoor Golf Bar, said he had set a goal earlier this summer to finish the PGA of America’s Professional Golf Management program in time to play this particular event.
“I was elected to Class A membership and became eligible for this tournament two weeks ago,” Weatherhead said. “I was hoping to get that done in time to play in it. Golf is a hard game, and you don’t win very often. So to be able to finish my book-work, pass the exam and then two weeks later win this … it’s everything I was hoping for.”
However, while it was Weatherhead’s first actual appearance in the Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship, he’s been here in a support role on many occasions. That’s because Sam’s wife, Kristyn Weatherhead, has been a PGA member since 2019, and he has caddied for her in the event on several occasions. This week, Kristyn tied for 57th place overall at Lake Arrowhead, as Sam won the title.
Weatherhead began Tuesday’s final round tied for the lead with Michael Crowley of Mee-Kwon Park GC after they both shot 68 Monday. Nagy was the third player in Tuesday’s final threesome, sitting one stroke back after shooting 69.
But, following an overnight deluge in the area, Tuesday’s tournament course was a completely different animal. It was windy, and the round was played with preferred lies in the fairway, which meant players could lift, clean and replace their ball in the short grass in the wet conditions.
But Weatherhead admits he didn’t play great out of the gate Tuesday, so there were few opportunities to clean-up anything.
“I don’t think I was able to touch my golf ball (to clean it in the fairway) until the fifth hole, and that was after I punched out of some trees,” he said. “I was even playing conservatively off the tee, but I was hitting 3-wood in the rough and irons in the rough. So it was a very unnerving start.”
At the same time, Nagy was 2-under through his first five holes in the second round, so Weatherhead said he felt a little pressure to turn it around.
Lucky for Weatherhead, his bad start didn’t cost him a bunch of strokes, as he scrambled for pars on the first five holes. His round finally turned around on the eighth hole, a tight par-4, when he decided to pull out his driver, results be-damned, because nothing else was working.
“From there on, I hit driver on the holes that allowed me to, and it turned out to be the best club in my bag,” he said.
Nagy closed with four bogeys and a birdie on the back nine to fall off the pace. Crowley also ended up shooting himself out of the tournament with a back-nine 40 on Tuesday, and he eventually signed for a final-round 79, finishing in a tie for 11th place.
That left Christianson to claim the runner-up spot after he shot an even-par 72 Tuesday. Christianson made two bogeys on the front nine and two birdies on the back.
Weatherhead recorded three birdies on the back nine, including both par-5s, to go with that lone bogey on the front nine and shot 70. Nursing a lead down the stretch, Weatherhead said he switched strategy again and left the driver in the bag on the final holes.
The Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship doubles as an annual qualifier for the National PGA Professional Championship, and five spots were on the line this week at Lake Arrowhead for that tournament, scheduled for April 25-28 at Streamsong Resort in Florida.
Weatherhead will now lead that group of Wisconsin PGA Section players competing at Streamsong – also obviously a new experience for him. He’ll be joined by Christianson and Nagy, who finished in second and third place this week, respectively. And the two players who tied for fourth place at 144 also qualified for the national event – Mark Voeller of Golf Galaxy-Brookfield (72-72) and Brian Zinda of Cobra Golf (70-74).
Weatherhead said he’s excited to qualify for the National PGA Professional Championship, but he admits his unique job puts an interesting spin on the opportunity. Weatherhead is the general manager at Links & Drinks, and he also does a lot of teaching. Not surprisingly for an indoor golf facility in Wisconsin, wintertime is the busy time for this particular business.
“I don’t know really what to expect,” Weatherhead said of playing next April in Florida. “With winter being my busy season, I’ve come out of the gates pretty rough the last few years. So I’m going to have to get some practice time in this winter.”
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The WPGA would like to thank both our presenting and supporting sponsors of the 2026 WPGA Professional Championship. With their help and support the Section was able to roll out another great championship for all the PGA Professionals in the field to enjoy.
We would also like to express our gratitude to everyone at Lake Arrowhead. The course welcomed the players and championship with open arms and provided all the logistical support that was needed to conduct a first-class event.