MEQUON — So, who’s going to win the 102nd Wisconsin State Open? The truth is, any one of the 15 players within six strokes of the lead have a chance. All it will take is two great rounds in the 36-hole finale Wednesday, on a course on which the line between birdie and bogey is razor-thin. “Pars are going to be good,” co-leader Zach Burry said. “Just whoever can grind it out and get after it.” Read more >'Just whoever can grind it out': With 15 players at even-par or better after 36 holes, the Wisconsin State Open will be up for grabs in finale

HONOR ROLL Read more >102nd Wisconsin State Open: Day 1 Report Card from Ozaukee CC

Jordan Niebrugge of Shorewood was in fourth place alone with a 67, and there was a four-way tie for fifth at 68: former Marquette University standout Hunter Eichhorn of Carney, Mich., who made a rare double-eagle on No. 2; former University of Wisconsin golfer Sam Anderson of Stoughton; Sam Weber of Hartland, a caddie at Erin Hills; and Zach Burry of Appleton, the State Open runner-up last year. Read more >Mini-tour pros Peter Webb, Matt Tolan and Austin Kendziorski post 4-under 66s to share lead after Day 1 of the Wisconsin State Open

This is undeniably a big week for Mequon native Jordan Niebrugge, who has moved back home and is living in Shorewood after being based in Florida for several years. He has played little tournament golf this summer, and with Korn Ferry Tour Q School looming next month, a strong State Open performance would go a long way. Read more >Back home at Ozaukee Country Club, Mequon's Jordan Niebrugge looks to boost his game at Wisconsin State Open

Here's how the 156-golfer field was determined for the 102st Wisconsin State Open Championship Aug. 15-17 at Ozaukee Country Club in Mequon. Golfers will play 18 holes Monday and Tuesday before the field is cut to the low 60 golfers plus ties for Wednesday's 36-hole finale. Read more >Who's who at the 102nd Wisconsin State Open: A look at the field teeing it up at Ozaukee CC in Mequon

The Brookfield golfer has a chance to secure Korn Ferry Tour status in 2023 by finishing among the top five in the PGA Tour Canada standings and so will play next week in Winnipeg, Manitoba instead of at Ozaukee Country Club in Mequon. At the State Open, he would have been competing to become the first golfer to win the tournament three consecutive years. Read more >Two-time defending champion Harrison Ott withdraws from next week's Wisconsin State Open to try to secure status on Korn Ferry Tour

WPGA 47.5, WSGA 40.5 Read more >WPGA/WSGA: 55th Nelthorpe Cup Matches (Meadowbrook CC-Racine)

Mick Smith, who teaches at The Practice Station in New Berlin, edged Joe Leonard, the director of instruction at The Oaks Golf Course, while Jim Schuman, winner of four consecutive POY titles (2017-’20), finished third. In the race for WPGA Senior Player of the Year, Kurt Mantyla edged Schuman, breaking the latter’s six-year stranglehold on the award. Read more >Flagship victory vaults Mick Smith to his first WPGA Player of the Year honor; Kurt Mantyla ends Jim Schuman's six-year run as Senior POY

The Wisconsin Section honored its 2021 special award winners last week in a ceremony at Westmoor Country Club in Brookfield. The winners were named in February, but the WPGA couldn’t hold its annual ceremony in March, as is customary, because of the coronavirus pandemic. Read more >Travis Becker, Jeff Ellingson among WPGA professionals honored in COVID-delayed 2021 awards ceremony

As a young golfer growing up in Sydney, Australia, Mick Smith couldn’t have imagined himself winding up on the other side of the world, in a place called Wisconsin. Australia’s loss was the Wisconsin PGA Section’s gain. On Tuesday, Smith birdied three of the last six holes at the University Club of Milwaukee, fired a 2-under 69 and became the first back-to-back winner of the Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship since Jim Schuman in 2001-’02. Read more >Mick Smith finishes strong to become first back-to-back winner of WPGA Professional Championship since 2002

Everyone around Mario Tiziani seemed to have a good golf story that included special memories of the tight, twisting layout at Blackhawk Country Club in Madison. Read more >Back-nine birdie binge opens door after Kurt Mantyla fades as Mario Tiziani rallies to win Wisconsin State Senior Open in five-hole playoff

Michael Crowley admitted he was mildly amused over the weekend when he saw rain predicted for Madison, knowing his title defense at the Wisconsin State Senior Open would begin Tuesday at Blackhawk Country Club. Read more >Kurt Mantyla does his best to rein in defending champ Michael Crowley, takes two-shot lead at State Senior Open

Golf is a difficult game because the field of play and the conditions are ever-changing and because the ball is stationary, which gives us time to think. The golf swing, however, should not be difficult. A child can swing a club successfully, as can an octogenarian. That, in a nutshell, was the foundation of the teaching of Manuel de la Torre, who died in 2016 after a long and distinguished career at Milwaukee Country Club. Read more >Group of golf teachers devoted to the late Manuel de la Torre's swing concepts planning seminar to celebrate his 100th birthday

REPORT CARD Read more >101st Wisconsin State Open: Final-day report card from Blackwolf Run

All around Harrison Ott on Wednesday, contenders were alternating birdies with blow-ups, charging up the leaderboard and then disappearing faster than you could say “snowman.” It was like watching NASCAR, with daring passes and pileups in the corners. Except the drivers wore polos. Ott wasn’t immune, but he steered through the wreckage, played the last seven holes in 3-under and emerged with a four-shot victory. Read more >Harrison Ott steers his way through wild final round at Blackwolf Run to defend his Wisconsin State Open title

REPORT CARD Read more >101st Wisconsin State Open: Day 2 Report Card from Blackwolf Run and Pine Hills

SHEBOYGAN — It seemed like a good idea at the time. Just two friends who also happened to be former high school rivals and former college teammates playing what was then called the Canadian Tour, tooling around the TPC Tampa Bay with golf clubs sharing space in the back of the cart with a pa… Read more >Jim Lemon, the 2013 State Open champion, remembered as a friend and competitor after losing his battle with pancreatic cancer at age 43

Only one golfer has won the Wisconsin State Amateur and State Open titles in the same year – the late Bob Brue in 1959. Piercen Hunt of Hartland has a chance, then, to turn an excellent summer into a historic one. He goes into the 36-hole finale of the 101st State Open on the Meadow Valleys Course at Blackwolf Run on Wednesday with a two-shot lead and some of the state’s top players in hot pursuit. Read more >Piercen Hunt is halfway to history with some of Wisconsin's top players on his heels going into the State Open's 36-hole finale at Blackwolf Run

REPORT CARD Read more >101st Wisconsin State Open: Day 1 Report Card from Blackwolf Run and Pine Hills

Piercen Hunt, of Hartland, a rising sophomore at the University of Illinois, made eight birdies – including four consecutively on the front nine – and shot a 7-under 65 on the Meadow Valleys to take a two-shot lead into the second round. Sam Anderson of Stoughton, a former UW player who has turned professional, was in second place alone after shooting a 5-under 66 on par-71 Pine Hills. Cameron Huss, of Kenosha, was in third after a 67 at Pine Hills. Read more >Fresh off State Am victory, Piercen Hunt takes two-shot lead at the Wisconsin State Open with a first-round 65 at Blackwolf Run

Five strokes behind and in a tie for fifth at the beginning of the day, Brookfield's Harrison Ott shot 68-68 Wednesday in the 36-hole finale of the Wisconsin State Open at Blackwolf Run to become the second repeat champion in three years. His 12-under total was four better than Appleton's Za… Read more >Latest updates from the 101st Wisconsin State Open at Blackwolf Run in Kohler, Pine Hills CC in Sheboygan

Here's how the 204-golfer field was determined for the 101st Wisconsin State Open Championship Aug. 16-18 on the Meadow Valleys Course at Blackwolf Run in Kohler and Pine Hills Country Club in Sheboygan. Golfers will alternate playing 18 holes at Blackwolf Run and Pine Hills on Monday and Tuesday before the field is cut to the low 60 golfers plus ties for Wednesday's 36-hole finale at Blackwolf Run. Read more >Who's who at the 101st Wisconsin State Open: A look at the field teeing it up this week at Blackwolf Run in Kohler and Pine Hills CC in Sheboygan

Talented players often breeze through the PGA of America's Player Ability Test on their first try. Others, less gifted, more nervous or both, often need several attempts. The PAT has no room for sympathy or humor. To that, Eric Popovich, an assistant professional at Cherokee Country Club in Madison, can attest. His quest to pass the test and become a Class A member of the PGA began in 1991.  Read more >If at first you don't succeed ... try 93 more times. Cherokee CC assistant pro Eric Popovich finally passes his PAT after 30 years trying

Barring a change in competitive heart when they, say, turn 50, Jack Schultz and Nick Nelson are likely to be career amateurs when it comes to golf. Read more >Jack Schultz, Nick Nelson combine for 11 points as WSGA tops WPGA to win Nelthorpe Cup Matches for third time in four years

Though Austin Gaugert, a professional caddie who's looped for several players on the PGA Tour, competes infrequently, he showed Friday that he still has plenty of game by winning the 55th annual Wisconsin PGA Match Play Championship. In the semifinals, he knocked off Kurt Mantyla, 2 and 1, before edging Joe Leonard, 2-up, in a hard-fought final. Read more >Learning a bit from his pro caddie job, Austin Gaugert bags a victory at the season-long Wisconsin PGA Match Play Championship

PGA HOPE (Helping Our Patriots Everywhere) is a a military outreach program established by the PGA of America that has grown quickly in Wisconsin and nationally. Through PGA HOPE, active and retired military members receive free instruction from PGA professionals who go through an eight-hour training program. "It’s a way of golf giving back," says Joe Stadler, WPGA executive director. Read more >Clinics offer free golf instruction from PGA professionals to active and retired military members across Wisconsin

Jim Schuman had just turned 50 when he suggested to his family that it would be fun to try to earn player of the year honors in the Wisconsin PGA Section in both the member and senior divisions. After all, he was healthy, loved to compete and still had a lot of game. “They just chuckled at me, like, ‘Are you kidding me?'" Read more >An old pro: Ageless Jim Schuman has now won WPGA Player of the Year honors four straight years in both the member and senior divisions

As a junior golfer at Butte des Morts Country Club in Appleton, J.P. Hayes often popped into the golf shop to ask Bill Brodell, the club professional, to come out to the practice range and watch him hit a few balls. Read more >Bill Brodell, longtime head PGA professional at Butte des Morts CC and mentor to dozens of golfers, dies at 70

There were plenty of challenges during 2020 to doing what Jeff Kaiser does, but maybe that's why the honors continue to flow in for the Madison golf professional. Read more >Fitting honor: TaylorMade tabs Madison's Jeff Kaiser as 2020 National Fitter of the Year

Jeff Ellingson was working as a carpenter in his father’s construction business in the late 1990s, but what he really wanted to be was a PGA golf professional. So he made the difficult decision to change careers. That decision was further validated last week when he was named WPGA Golf Professional of the Year, the most prestigious of the section’s annual awards. Read more >After years building a career as a golf pro, Edelweiss Chalet's Jeff Ellingson wins Wisconsin PGA's highest honor

As excited as Chris Hoel was to roll out the 2021 Wisconsin PGA schedule last week, the WPGA assistant executive director recognized that many of his section's members might be challenged to compete in as many events as they would like. And that, in a way, is a good thing. Read more >The busy get busier as state's top club professionals have a lot to juggle in bid to take advantage of 2021 Wisconsin PGA schedule

Given that Jim Schuman and Ryan Helminen have been the best players in the Wisconsin PGA Section for the better part of two decades, one would expect their showdown in the final of the WPGA Match Play Championship to be a knockdown, drag-out affair. It was that, and more. Read more >Jim Schuman outlasts Ryan Helminen in the wind and rain to win the WPGA Match Play Championship

GREEN BAY – What an interesting journey it’s been for Mick Smith, who at one time was among Australia’s top amateur golfers and on Tuesday won the Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship at Green Bay Country Club – 16 time zones and more than 9,000 miles from his hometown of Sydney. Read more >Australian native Mick Smith fires a 68 in the wind, wins Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship

Mark Voeller played a practice round Sunday to prepare for the Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship and by his own admission putted poorly. He spent 30 minutes on the practice green afterward and “kind of got some things figured out.” Read more >Mark Voeller rides suddenly-hot putter into lead at Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship

MADISON – After the first round of a rain-plagued, waterlogged Wisconsin State Senior Open at Nakoma Golf Club, Michael Crowley said he “loved playing in the mud and the slop.” On Wednesday, he backed up his words, playing the final six holes in 3-under par – an incredible feat, given the conditions – and rolling in birdie putts on Nos. 17 and 18 to overtake two-time defending champion Jim Schuman and claim the title by one shot. Read more >Michael Crowley proves he's a mudder, dethrones two-time defending champ Jim Schuman to win State Senior Open

It was a day better suited for staying indoors and watching TV, or curling up with a good book. Read more >Michael Crowley, Kurt Mantyla plod through the rain to lead State Senior Open; two-time defending champion Jim Schuman lurks one back

Rounds of the day Read more >100th Wisconsin State Open: Day 3 Report Card from Blue Mound G&CC

WAUWATOSA – The summer of Harry continues. Harrison Ott of Brookfield, a rising senior at Vanderbilt University who reached the Round of 16 at the U.S. Amateur last week, pulled away to victory Wednesday in the 100th Wisconsin State Amateur at Blue Mound Golf & Country Club. He is the first amateur to win the State Open since Jordan Niebrugge in 2011. Read more >Red-hot amateur Harrison Ott pulls away to win the 100th Wisconsin State Open by six strokes at Blue Mound

WAUWATOSA – Stop us if you’ve heard this story before: Golfer shows a ton of potential as a young amateur, turns pro early and heads to the minitours, where he gets swallowed up and spit out like so many world-beaters before him. Read more >Minitour pro Kaylor Steger in unfamiliar spot atop leaderboard at the State Open with some big names in Wisconsin golf chasing him

Round of the day Read more >100th Wisconsin State Open: Day 1 Report Card from Blue Mound G&CC