HORNUNG’S CLASSIC
EVENT PARTNER
(Mick Smith & Bob Hornung Jr.)
In his seventh try Mick Smith found the success he had been seeking at the Hornung’s Classic on Monday. The Australian along with 86 other WPGA professionals teed it up at the 54th edition of the event at South Hills G&CC. The field was stacked with the top players in the Section, which forced him to be on top of his game to get the win.
With cool and breezy conditions, the players were going to experience some missteps throughout their round. It would just be a matter of if they could offset them with birdies and eagles to get their score in red numbers.
Luckily for Smith, he would tie Max Schmidtke and Jamie Christianson for the least amount of bogey or worse scores in their round. Each player had only one blemish over 18 holes.
Keeping it steady is a hallmark of Smith’s game but he also had plenty of offense on Monday. Three birdies on the front and two on the back carried him to a 4-under-par 67.
His playing partner, Craig Czerniejewski, also put up the 4-under-par mark. Czerniejewski got off to a hot start and made seven birdies to help him to his own 67.
The good mates enjoyed 18 holes together, so a little overtime golf was welcomed. They headed to the par-4 18th to start their hole-by-hole playoff. Each player knocked it on the green in two but they had decent length birdie putts. Smith played first from 21-feet and rolled it right in the cup. With the pressure to match, Czerniejewski’s 12-foot putt slid by on the low side and just missed.
The birdie gave Smith his second one-day WPGA Classic win and his first at the Hornung’s. By sweeping the board across the regular division, player’s purse, and senior division, he took home $2,160.
As always, the WPGA and our professionals would like to express our appreciation to Hornung’s Golf Products and the Hornung family. Their commitment to the event and continuing the tradition is greatly appreciated. It is always a day that our WPGA professionals look forward to.
The Wisconsin PGA would like to thank South Hills G&CC and their membership for hosting once again. The club takes great pride in hosting the Hornung’s each year. Giving up their course year in and year out is something the Section does not take for granted.