WISCONSIN STATE OPEN
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Write-Up provided by Gary D’Amato (garydamatogolf@gmail.com) and Wisconsin.Golf
KOHLER — The five players who held or shared the lead at various points in the final round of the 105th Wisconsin State Open combined to make 17 bogeys, 16 birdies, two eagles and one triple-bogey Wednesday on the Meadow Valleys Course at Blackwolf Run.
There were ups and downs, lip-outs and flame-outs. Twenty-foot putts raced 12 feet past the hole on greens that defied logic and got faster as the day went on. The lead changed hands so many times, the electronic scoring couldn’t be trusted.
Strange things happened. Sam Weatherhead hit two balls with one swing — an old yellow ball, buried unseen beneath his own ball in the deep fescue on the second hole, came popping out along with his ball when he slashed through the hay with a 60-degree wedge.
In the end, though, it was the 30-year-old Weatherhead who kept his head when others around him were losing theirs. He broke out of a three-way tie for the lead when he stuffed an 8-iron to two feet on the 195-yard, par-3 17th hole and finished it off with a two-putt par from the fringe on 18, making a 5-foot come-backer for the win.
“It means a lot,” said Weatherhead, who lives in Hartford and is general manager of Links & Drinks Indoor Golf Bar in Oconomowoc. “Winning golf tournaments is very, very hard. … It takes a lot of things to fall in place to win a golf tournament. I’m going to remember this for a long time.”
The former Michigan State golfer overcame five bogeys on the front nine in the afternoon round of the 36-hole finale, shot an even-par 72 and finished at 10-under-par 278. He earned $15,000.
Cameron Huss of Kenosha, who won the 2023 State Open at SentryWorld, closed with a 69 and finished second at 279, one shot back. In the last four State Opens, the former University of Wisconsin golfer has finished third, first, tied for third and second.
Despite a three-putt bogey from 100 feet on the par-3 15th, Huss, playing in the second-last threesome, was tied for the lead with Weatherhead and Brookfield’s Harrison Ott with two holes to go. Then Weatherhead made the birdie behind him on 17 and Huss failed to birdie the closing hole.
“It’s a hard finishing stretch to this golf course and when you’ve got a little bit of pressure, too, and your golf swing’s not feeling the best, the targets are pretty conservative,” Huss said. “But it was fun to compete and to be in contention again.”
Ott, who won back-to-back State Open titles in 2020 and 2021 — the latter at Blackwolf Run — shot a 73 and bogeyed the last hole to fall into a third-place tie with former Marquette University All-American Mike Van Sickle at 8-under 280.
“Yeah, very wild day,” Ott said. “I said it yesterday, and I kept saying to my caddie, your birdies are earned out here and your bogeys are, too. Bogeys-plus. There’s no faking it.”
Van Sickle, 38, a teaching professional playing in his first Wisconsin State Open, broke out his old blue Marquette golf bag for the occasion. He was 3-under par and bogey-free through 13 holes, but three-putt bogeys on Nos. 14 and 15 proved to be his undoing. He shot a 71.
“It didn’t feel like nerves or anything like that,” he said. “It was just losing control of my speed. The greens got faster as the day went on. They were way faster than they were this morning (in the first half of the 36-hole finale). Tough hole locations, faster greens, easy to lose control.”
Former Marquette golfer Tyler Leach of Spring Valley played in the final threesome and was tied for the lead early in the round. But he recorded a disastrous triple-bogey 8 on the par-5 seventh hole, from which he never recovered. His triple included a one-stroke penalty after his ball moved when he addressed it in the rough just off the green.
Leach, winner of the Minnesota State Open last month, shot a 75 and finished fifth alone at 6-under 282.
Jordan Niebrugge of Whitefish Bay, the 2011 State Open champion and now an assistant coach at Marquette, closed with a 71 and finished T-6 with current MU player Mason Schmidtke of Sheboygan (74).
Hartland native Charlie Delsman, a full-time caddie who lives in Florida, was one shot off the lead going into the 36-hole finale but shot 72-80 and finished T-14.
Weatherhead, who won three college events at Michigan State, is fairly new to the Wisconsin PGA Section, having moved here three years ago. He married his wife, Kristyn, at The American Club in Kohler, and in his two previous State Open starts finished fifth in 2023 and 10th last year.
“Honestly, I saw myself going to the PGA Tour like every person who plays college golf and wants to turn professional afterwards,” he said. “That’s the end goal, right? I did that for six years or so. Gave it my best and was close every single year, and then the travel got a little too much.”
“We settled into Hartford three years ago. We’ve always loved it here. We’ve been happy. We’ve felt like we’re at home. Now being a part of the Wisconsin Section, it’s almost like a small family. It’s nice to see the same guys and fit in well with them. Everybody is nice, everybody is welcoming. They’re not like, ‘Oh, Michigan transplant.’ We’re very happy here and happy to be playing golf in Wisconsin.”
After a routine par on the first hole in the final round, Weatherhead hit his only wild tee shot on the par-4 second — a hard-turning hook that wound up in the deep fescue. That’s when he pulled off his two-ball trick shot as he tried to hack back into the fairway. He hit his third shot through the green but then chipped close and saved bogey.
“That’s a time when I want to take (double-bogey) out of play,” he said. “A five isn’t going to kill you around here but a six is going to make it a little deeper hole that you have to dig out of.”
His troubles weren’t quite over. After back-to-back birdies on Nos. 3 and 4, he bogeyed Nos. 5, 6, 7 and 9 to make the turn in 39.
“It felt like a roller-coaster for me,” Weatherhead said. “I’m glad to hear that it was for a lot of other people, too. Everybody was just bouncing around all day. … Nobody was going super low but I think that’s also a testament to how hard the course was playing.”
Weatherhead made a crucial par save on the 10th hole and then eagled the par-5 11th, hitting the green in two and rolling in a 15-foot putt.
“I think the biggest shot of my round this afternoon was making that par save on 10,” he said. “It was about a 6-footer, which doesn’t seem too hard, but when you’ve missed a couple they get a lot longer.”
Another three-putt bogey on No. 14 stung, but he parred Nos. 15 and 16 and then made what turned out to be the winning birdie on 17.
“My shot on 17 is what I’ll remember the most, for sure,” he said. “That was an 8-iron. I like to swing hard at something rather than trying to saw off (a shot). Once it was in the air, I needed it to catch some of the wind and thankfully it did. It went to about two feet, a stress-free birdie on a pretty difficult hole. That was huge.”
His two-putt par from the fringe on the 18th hole was equally big.
“I was right up against that collar and that made it a little difficult, too,” he said. “When I hit it, I caught part of the collar coming down and I didn’t think it was going to stretch that far. The last putt you want in that situation is a six-footer downhill. Even though it went five feet (past the hole), it was something I could hit with some pace up the hill.”
Weatherhead hadn’t checked the leaderboard and didn’t know immediately that he’d won.
“It’s an incredible feeling,” he said. “I battled well and I’m happy with the way I was able to stay level-headed and take the next shot and see what happens. … Every golf tournament I’ve played since I was a little kid I think led up to this moment. All the times that I lost a golf tournament, they helped me win one today.”
Next year’s Wisconsin State Open will return to Tuckaway Country Club. The former home of the Greater Milwaukee Open last hosted the Wisconsin State Open in 2013.
2025 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 nine straight years the financial advisory group has provided some key backing for the Wisconsin State Open. With their help this year’s event featured the largest first-place prize check in the event’s history.
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 Kohler Golf. The staff and management team were terrific to work with, especially during the day one weather delay. The facility is truly one of the best in the world and the Wisconsin PGA is fortunate to partner with them on a yearly basis.
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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