WISCONSIN STATE OPEN
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Write-Up provided by Gary D’Amato (garydamatogolf@gmail.com) and Wisconsin.Golf
MINOCQUA — If he hadn’t broken his collarbone while playing junior hockey in the eighth grade, who knows where Max Lyons would be today? Back then, when he was playing travel baseball and Elite AAA hockey with the Jr. Coyotes in Phoenix, golf was something he did with his father on Sunday evenings. Nine holes. Twilight rates at a local course.
The collarbone injury required surgery and young Max decided that he was done with baseball and hockey. He would, instead, be a golfer.
It would have been hard to imagine then — impossible, really — that seven years later he would be standing in fading sunlight on a glorious summer evening in Wisconsin’s Northwoods, holding the trophy as the champion of the 104th Suter Ward Group Wisconsin State Open.
You can’t make this stuff up. Lyons, 21, who hadn’t won a tournament since the summer after his senior year of high school and had played just two competitive rounds this summer, rallied with an incredible closing stretch Wednesday to claim the title at Minocqua Country Club.
“I definitely forgot what it’s like to win a golf tournament,” said the rising senior at Marquette University. “It’s awesome to win stuff like this but it’s such a small part of my life. My faith in Jesus Christ is hopefully something I can profess when I play well and I don’t play well.
“I was super relaxed and didn’t put too much pressure on myself. It was a really fun tournament. It’s been a while since I had a fun tournament where I didn’t wrap myself up in a bogey or a double.”
It’s not as if Lyons suddenly figured out how to play. He was a Junior Golf Association of Arizona boys player of the year, was one of the highest-ranked recruits in MU history and is the reigning Big East player of the year, having led the conference in scoring (72.33) as a junior.
But he showed up at Minocqua CC after a summer internship with Baird that left little time to play golf. He played in 18-hole qualifiers for the U.S. Amateur and Western Amateur and did not advance. He joined his MU teammates on a team trip to Scotland earlier this month. He squeezed in some practice here and there. That was it.
“Coming into this week, I didn’t even think about expectations,” Lyons said. “A couple of my friends were playing in the event. I just wanted to see them and have fun.”
Then he went and birdied five of the last seven holes, shot a 5-under 67 (following a 70 in the morning half of the 36-hole finale) and blew past everybody. It was such an in-the-zone performance that he had no idea he was leading, and probably going to win, until MU teammates Patrick Adler and Mason Schmidtke greeted him behind the 18th green.
“I had no idea what was going on,” Lyons said, “and they told me I had the lead.”
Defending State Open champion Cameron Huss of Kenosha, making his professional debut after a standout career at the University of Wisconsin, was the last player with a slim chance to catch Lyons.
Two shots back and playing in the final threesome, Huss needed to hole his approach shot for an eagle on the 18th to force a playoff. His ball found the green but not the cup, and Lyons was the winner.
The champion finished the 72-hole tournament at 16-under 272. George Kneiser of Oconomowoc shot 67-67 over the 36-hole finale, climbed into second place at 14-under 274 and earned $13,700 as the low professional.
Former UW player Griffin Barela closed with a course-record 63 and finished in a tie for third place with Huss (71) and former MU player Tyler Leach (71) at 275. Each earned $6,942.
Lyons started the final round one shot off the lead shared by Huss, Leach and Zach Burry of Appleton. But Lyons offset three birdies with three bogeys on the front nine and made the turn four shots off the lead, held at the time by Zach Place of Roselle, Ill.
“I don’t look at leaderboards, so I didn’t look at what I needed to do,” Lyons said. “I figured after my front nine, I needed to do something pretty special on the back nine to even have a chance. Shooting even par is not going to get it done.”
He cut into the lead with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 12th hole, followed by a six-footer for birdie on the par-3 13th.
In the meantime, the players behind him started to struggle.
Huss, who opened the final round with an eagle on the par-5 first hole, got to 15-under when he holed a 9-iron from 140 yards for another eagle on the par-4 11th. But he hooked his drive into the woods on the par-5 12th and made a bogey, then missed a 2 1/2 – foot slider for birdie on the par-5 15th and followed it with a bogey on the 16th.
“This afternoon was honestly a crazy round,” Huss said. “Starting with the eagle and then I bogeyed two, but whatever. Then apparently on the sixth hole I hit the cup with my driver (on the short par-4) and then three-putted for par. And then holing out on 11 from 140 and then hooking it into the stuff on 12 and making bogey. It was just a crazy round.
“I hung in there. I just didn’t have my best stuff this afternoon.”
Leach got to 14-under with six holes left, but played them in 1-over, making a costly bogey on the par-5 15th.
“I would say that I definitely played well enough to win,” he said. “I would imagine I was probably right up there in terms of birdies (he made 24 over 72 holes), which is always a good indicator of how you’re playing. But the putter let me down. I’ve made a lot of really great strides, a lot of good improvements the last few months, but especially down the stretch today that was kind of the glaring weakness.
“I missed a few short putts that could have kept me in it. Over the course of the week, you add up all the five-footers that you missed, that’s probably the difference right there.”
Burry, who had four starts on PGA Tour Americas earlier this year, fell off the pace with a double-bogey on the 15th and bogeys on Nos. 16 and 17. He shot a 74 and finished T-11 with Place, Adler and 16-year-old Cody Guetzke of Hartland.
While Huss, Burry, Leach and Place were combining to make 10 bogeys and three double-bogeys on the back nine, Lyons was grabbing the tournament by the throat.
He “smashed a 9-iron” to 20 feet on the par-3 16th and made the putt for birdie. Then he hit a pitching wedge to 12 feet on the par-4 17th and made that one. Finally, he stuffed a 9-iron from 163 yards to within six feet on the 18th and made that one, too.
He’d birdied the final three holes and five of the last seven.
“Once I made the putt on 17, I was doing the math a little bit and I started to think I might have a shot,” Lyons said. “When I finished 18, I figured I was somewhat close to the lead. I thought I was maybe one back.”
That closing stretch has to rank among the great clutch performances in State Open history.
“The one thing about my game, I do have a tendency to play better when it means something,” Lyons said. “I have a really good tendency to scrape it around and find ways to score.”
He’s got a big, shiny trophy as proof.
Next year’s Wisconsin State Open will return to Blackwolf Run and offer a 2-course site as both the River and Meadow Valleys courses will be utilized.
2024 Suter Ward Group at Morgan Stanley Wisconsin State Open Final Results
The Wisconsin PGA would like to express our appreciation to the Suter Ward Group at Morgan Stanley for their continued sponsorship of the Wisconsin State Open. For eight straight years the financial advisory group has been a major component of this championship. We are very appreciative of what they bring to the table.
The WPGA would also like to thank our supporting partners, TaylorMade Golf and Sentry. They once again played a key role in the championship and we truly appreciate their contributions.
A big thank you also goes out to everyone at Minocqua CC. The staff and membership really rolled out the red carpet for the players. From terrific playing conditions to first class service to countless volunteers, the club took great pride in hosting.
Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, a global leader, provides access to a wide range of products and services to individuals, businesses and institutions, including brokerage and investment advisory services, financial and wealth planning, cash management, lending products and services, insurance, retirement and trust services. Vince Suter, a Family Wealth Advisor is well-positioned to have meaningful conversations about money; to help families set priorities, protect their family enterprise, practice impactful philanthropy and put estate plans in place. He takes great pride in connecting with the next generation to engage them in becoming educated about how family finances affect them. Vince has demonstrated a disciplined, diligent approach to understanding how family circumstances and dynamics can influence and impact short and long-term personal and financial goals. His ability to work with families to develop a framework for their financial future helps them achieve their financial goals.
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