WISCONSIN STATE
WOMEN’S OPEN
TITLE SPONSOR
SUPPORTING PARTNERS
Write-up provided by Wisconsin.Golf and Rob Hernandez – robhernandez.golf@gmail.com
Images provided by Krisjanis Kaugars of the Wisconsin State Golf Association
STEVENS POINT — In the computer-scoring era of the Sentry Wisconsin State Women’s Open, no winner had ever overcome what Payton Haugen overcame Wednesday on a rain-soaked SentryWorld stage to emerge as a champion.
In fact, by the time the Brookfield golfer tapped in for a bogey on the final hole, the handful of onlookers huddled under umbrellas were too paralyzed with the mathematical chaos of what they had just witnessed to be certain Haugen had, indeed, held off playing partner Bobbi Stricker and prevailed.
A 2-hour, 10-minute weather delay due to standing water in the landing zone on the 18th fairway — with the final group in the 17th fairway — led to one of the most bizarre endings in the event’s 30-year history. After making double-bogey on the par-4 17th hole and having Stricker, despite bogeying the hole, climb within one shot of her lead, Haugen and Stricker slogged it out as they made their way up the 377-yard, par-4 finishing hole with a title on the line.
The great irony? Neither did so from the soggy fairway that caused the delay.
Haugen and Stricker both drew bad lies in the left rough, advanced their golf balls no more than 50 yards on their second shots and approached the far-left hole location on the green from different directions. Haugen used her putter to cover the 40 feet from the back fringe for her fourth shot, lagging it inside of a foot for a tap-in bogey, after Stricker’s chip from 15 yards in front of the green ran by 8 feet and her bogey putt became academic after Haugen made hers.
The 19 years of available Women’s State Open scorecard data showed none of the champions during that span closed out their victories with a stretch that included a double-bogey. In fact, 2025 champion Chloe Chan was the first to win with a bogey-bogey finish, but the former University of Wisconsin golfer didn’t have to deal the remnants of three-quarters of an inch of rain.
“It was very chaotic,” Haugen said after the Michigan State-bound champion shot 5-over-par 77 — the highest final-round score from a champion — and 4-over 220 total was good enough to hold off Stricker, who closed with a 78. “Even in the beginning, which now I don’t even really remember, honestly, it was back-and-forth between us a lot. It was birdies and bogeys and not a lot of consistent golf. I think that’s kind of what the weather brought upon. They also made the course very hard today.
“It was definitely just a chaotic day. Keeping track of the lead for 18 holes is a hard thing to do, especially when the conditions are really hard.”
Stricker bogeys at Nos. 1 and 3 helped Haugen extend her one-stroke lead on the former Badgers golfer to three. A Haugen bogey at No. 9 reduced her lead to one on North Carolina-Charlotte golfer WaWa Booncharn, who is spending the summer with boyfriend Bryce Diekfuss’ family in Reedsburg, while Stricker remained two strokes behind Haugen making the turn.
“I said it a couple of times to my dad today that my brain and my body weren’t communicating with each other from the beginning,” said Stricker, who had her father, former U.S. Ryder Cup captain Steve Stricker, serving as her caddie. “I really don’t even know what happened today. I don’t remember a lot, which is also quite concerning. It was hard.”
“It was harder … but I made it a lot harder.”
Indeed, it was brutally tough during the final round.
The 24 golfers who averaged 75.8 per round in making the 36-hole cut averaged 79.4 over the rain-plagued final 18 holes. There were just three sub-75 scores on the day and even the six golfers in the final two groups had to scratch and claw to fashion a sub-80 scoring average (79.8), mostly because they drew the worst of the weather for the longest period of time.
Yet, after Haugen went bogey-bogey at Nos. 9 and 10 (with Stricker matching the latter bogey), they played some of their best golf of a difficult day.
Stricker played the six holes after her bogey at No. 10 in 1-under with a birdie at No. 13. She hit an 8-iron to 25 feet on the 340-yard, par-4 and made the putt for birdie to cut Haugen’s lead to one and bring a renewed sense of confidence.
“For sure; I had a par-5 coming up and I hit a real nice shot in there and had an uphill 12-footer and I misread it,” Stricker said. “And then I thought I chipped in on 15. I thought I made that chip, from where we were.”
Instead, Haugen was the one who walked away with the momentum after draining a 15-foot putt for birdie, the last of her two on the day. The two-stroke lead that it gave her would prove to be critical after SentryWorld and WPGA officials ran the squeegees over the pooling water on the 18th fairway and the final two groups were given the green light to finish play.
“Rolling a putt in like that — I hadn’t made a long putt in awhile — it just felt really good to finally gain confidence back from that,” said Haugen, who also played the six holes after her bogey at No. 10 in 1-under. “Now we have a substantial lead and I’m confident in the driver and the 7-iron that I hit on that (15th) hole. It was kind of a reset point, which was nice to have on one of the hardest holes on the course.”
Another reset came after the horn blew while they were walking to their drives on the 17th hole. More than two hours later, they seemingly matched each other shot-for-shot the rest of the way.
Haugen fanned her approach shot into the right front bunker. Stricker also left hers short of the green, just outside of that bunker. Her chip ran past the cup, caught the ridge and ran out to about 40 feet only to be joined by Haugen moments later. Stricker two-putted for bogey; Haugen three-putted for that double-bogey.
It was more of the same on No. 18 where Haugen’s terrific lag putt clinched another bit of Women’s State Open history. Haugen becomes the fourth Michigan State golfer to win this championship, joining Syd Wells of Menominee, Mich. (2004), Lindsey Solberg of Middleton (2011) and Allyssa Ferrell (2014), and the first to do it before setting foot on campus.
“Throughout the past couple days, I was thinking about that a lot,” Haugen said of going into her freshman year with some resume material and the confidence to go with it. “Next year, we’re going to have a really good team at Michigan State. I have been hearing a lot about the success of other players on our team this summer. I was definitely thinking it would be great to prove to my coaches and everyone that I’m getting my game back into (shape) and starting hot this summer.
“My coaches have been texting me throughout the tournament congrats and good job and good luck and whatever. I’m definitely happy to represent them and make them proud that I’m going there this fall.”
As for Stricker, the impact of the outcome could not have been more obvious. One year after becoming the first golfer in tournament history to become a three-time runner-up, she added to that legacy — not to mention that frustration — in perhaps the worst weather she has ever played and most certainly while in contention to win the title she wants most.
“We played in some gross weather in college, I remember, and then not lately; like, I haven’t played in rain in forever, but I really want that trophy,” said Stricker, whose father won his only WIAA state championship here in 1984. “I was really excited to have the opportunity to do it here. But, no, Payton played great and I’m happy for her.”
“I get a crack at it next year.”
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We extend our sincere gratitude to Sentry Insurance for their ongoing commitment as the title sponsor of the Wisconsin State Women’s Open. Thanks to their generous support, alongside supporting partners The Suter Ward Group at Morgan Stanley and TaylorMade Golf, the Wisconsin PGA successfully delivered another exceptional week of competitive golf for all participants.
Our thanks also go out to everyone at SentryWorld for their outstanding hospitality. Known for its pride in hosting premier championships, the club provided another terrific experience for all tournament attendees.