WPGA MATCH PLAY
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EVENT PARTNERS
Write-Up Provided by Rick Pledl of Wisconsin.Golf
Davis Jensen may have found a new favorite golf course.
With apologies to the membership at North Shore CC in Mequon, where he works, and a lot of fine people at his favorite tracks back home in New York State, Jensen admits he’s getting quite fond of Hidden Glen GC, where on Tuesday he won his second straight Vortex® Golf Wisconsin PGA Match Play Championship.
Both of Jensen’s wins in the WPGA Match Play were completed at Hidden Glen, the private club in Cedarburg that hosted the semifinals and final match the last two seasons.
“When I saw a couple weeks ago that it was going to be at Hidden Glen again, I was excited,” Jensen said, even though he said he’s only played the course a couple of times. “That’s part of the game. I just feel very comfortable on that golf course. Sometimes when you get to a place where you are comfortable and confident, that can carry the weight.”
The Wisconsin PGA Section has employed a unique format for the championship in recent years, one of the prestigious events on its schedule for state PGA professionals. Early matches are held in May at a section-arranged host venue over two days. The final eight players then complete their quarterfinal matches on their own during late May or June. Lastly, a venue is selected for the semifinals and final in conjunction with the section office based on location and course availability for July or early August completion.
Jensen, 31, hasn’t been in Wisconsin long, having moved here from New York about five years ago. He also claims no particular advantage in Cedarburg, or anywhere else in his adopted state. He just shows up with his game wherever they tell him, and now he’s got two important WPGA titles under his belt, back-to-back.
“This is my second time winning a (WPGA) major; it just happens to be the same one,” Jensen said. “It’s awesome, and I’m absolutely thrilled. I can’t thank the membership at North Shore enough for giving me the opportunity, and the WPGA for running the event.”
Jensen beat Jamie Christianson of Horseshoe Bay GC in the championship match Tuesday afternoon by the score of 3 and 2.
In the tournament semifinals on Tuesday morning, Jensen defeated Michael Nagy of TPC Wisconsin, 2 and 1 in the first match. In the other semifinal, Christianson beat David Roesch of Storm’s Golf Range by the score of 6 and 4.
Jensen was happy with the results but also pleased with his overall game, which saw him playing from the lead most of the day.
“It always feels good when you feel like you’re at least a little bit in the driver’s seat,” Jensen said with a hint of caution in his voice. “I think any golfer who has played match play knows that it can switch so quickly. Even if you have a lead, you want to keep that gas pedal down as much as you can, because I feel match play is such a momentum thing. You got to keep firing away.”
Jensen never trailed in the championship match. There was a little back-and-forth early on, but it was all-square as Jensen and Christianson teed it up on the par-5 fifth hole, measuring 540 yards. Jensen converted a birdie there to go 1-up, and then he also won the seventh and eighth holes with birdies to take a sudden 3-up lead.
No. 7 was particularly kind to Jensen on Tuesday, as he had about a 2-foot putt for birdie in the finale, but he actually had a shorter putt than that for birdie in the morning semifinal. He said his tee shot in the afternoon ended up a few feet from his morning-round divot. Same yardage; same club into the green.
That 3-up lead might have looked safe, but this being match play Jensen had to grind out the victory on the back nine. He said afterward that he felt he missed a few chances to end the match earlier than he finally did.
Twice Christianson got back to 2-down, including on the short par-4 15th hole, measuring 353 yards, where he made par while Jensen recorded a double bogey when his approach sailed over the green and into the water from only about 100 yards out.
“That was such a bad decision,” Jensen said, while adding that he thinks he was trying to be aggressive, hoping to end the match, or something like that. “I can’t believe I did that. I should have just hit in the middle of the green and made Jamie hit a great shot to beat me. So I was kicking myself – I sort of gave him a window back in.”
But Jensen redeemed himself on the par-4 16th hole, where he ended the tournament with a beauty of an approach shot. He hit a solid drive on the 296-yard hole, leaving him 115 yards in. He hit his wedge shot to about a foot from the hole, and soon after that Christianson conceded the match, ending in a 3-and-2 decision.
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A big thank you to The Club at Strawberry Creek for hosting the first two days of championship play back in May, and to Hidden Glen GC for providing a great venue for the final day for the third time in the past seven years.
We’d also like to express our appreciation to Vortex® Golf, Harris Golf Cars, Oakley, Ahead and the PGA Tour for their terrific support of this championship.