BLACKWOLF RUN
MEADOW VALLEYS PRO-AM
EVENT PARTNERS
(Paul Herrick, Eric Johnson, Erik Stenseth & Mike Turner)
Another sold out field made their way to Destination Kohler to enjoy a first class pro-am on Monday. This year’s stop featured the always fun and challenging Meadow Valleys course at Blackwolf Run. It marked the fifth straight year that the WPGA has been fortunate to have one our four-player pro-ams at Destination Kohler. The run of hosting actually started in 2014 and only took a one year hiatus during 2016, when the Meadow Valleys course hosted the Wisconsin State Open. Over the course of the eight years the event has been played on the River, Meadow Valleys, and Irish courses. The event sells out months in advance and is always one of the highlights on the four-player pro-am circuit.
The challenging aspect of the Meadow Valleys course was front and center on Monday. Throughout the day teams were fighting for every birdie they could get in the two net team format. The format usually yields winning scores in the 120s but on Monday it took a score of 14-under-par 130 to tie for the top spot.
Although it played tough it delivered a super competitive event, the team purse payout would start at 130 and end with 134.
Sharing the top spot was the University Ridge GC team led by Erik Stenseth and the X Golf Mequon/Butte des Morts CC team led by Brian Brodell. Teaming up Brodell would be Paul Kundinger, Nick Vangrinsven and John Lukas. Joining Stenseth and claiming the hardware via scorecard playoff would be Eric Johnson, Paul Herrick and Mike Turner.
With several professionals in the field having already earned a spot into the Oliphant Golf Management Pro-Am Championship, there was just twenty teams vying for the three available spots. Earning those spots would be the Stenseth group, Mick Smith led team, and the Kyle Nielsen squad.
Leading the way in the low pro game would be Brodell. He’d card an impressive 5-under-par 67. His bogey-free round featured five birdies. The score would be good enough to best Joe Leonard by two shots.
In the low senior pro event Mark Voeller would grab the top spot with an even-par 72.
A big thank you goes out to the American Family Insurance Championship and adidas Golf for their sponsorship of the day. With their help the players received some nice bang for their buck.
The WPGA would also like to express our appreciation to everyone at Blackwolf Run. As always Destination Kohler put on a great show, and left everyone looking forward to their next trip back to their world-class courses.