WISCONSIN STATE
WOMEN’S OPEN
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
The hot streak of young ladies that wear the cardinal and white continued at the Wisconsin State Women’s Open on Wednesday. For the sixth straight season a current UW-Madison team member took home the coveted crown. Breaking up the run of four straight Tess Hackworthy wins was good friend and former teammate Emily Lauterbach of Hartland. With Hackworthy making a go of it on the mini-tours the door was wide open for a new badger winner.
“It means a lot to have won after many years of Badgers,” Lauterbach said. “Especially Tess, who I actually talked to for two hours this morning.”
That conversation turned out to be less about advice and more of a chance to catch up and chat. With Lauterbach’s mind at ease and a home course familiarity, it was a perfect combo for the final round.
Although she knows The Legend at Brandybrook well, she also knows that if she wasn’t careful one of her home courses could get the best of her.
“I mean it is definitely a harder course, difficult greens, lots of slopes and very fast,” Lauterbach said.
With a two-shot lead heading into the final round the Hartland native had some breathing room to just play her game. After a 1-under-par front side she would turn with a comfortable four shot lead. The back side however would get a little more interesting after she bogeyed two out of the first three holes. With more holes on the way with penalty areas and out of bounds, it was up to Lauterbach to steady the ship. The shaky play though would end quickly as she rattled off five straight pars including a key one in the middle on the par 5, no. 15.
“I mean I probably had twenty feet, and then I still had ten feet,” Lauterbach said. “It definitely was a good feeling to make that putt and it definitely gave me momentum for the next hole.”
After closing out her round Lauterbach had posted a 2-over-par 73 on the day and an even-par 146 total. The score was good enough to win by four shots over Xavier University golfer, Amy Kucera and Missouri State golfer, Abby Cavaiani.
Finishing in fourth place was Oconomowoc native Grace Suter, and rounding out the top five was the low professional of the event Carly Werwie.
As for Lauterbach her competitive game will once again go on hiatus, as it did when her college season was cut short. This time her break will be voluntary and last approximately five weeks, until she tees it up at the Women’s Western Amateur in late July.
The Wisconsin PGA would like to extend our appreciation to the two supporting partners of the Wisconsin State Women’s Open. With the help of The Suter Ward Group at Morgan Stanley and TaylorMade Golf the WPGA was able to put together another great championship for the attendees.
A big thank you also goes out to the membership and staff at The Legend at Brandybrook for hosting this year’s Women’s Open. The club once again provided a perfectly conditioned golf course, which provided a great test of golf for the competitors.