Apr.
29–It’s still wet and cold and April, but the golf tournament season in Wisconsin is heating up. More than a half-dozen tournaments featuring some of the best professionals and amateurs in the state will be contested over the next three weeks. The Wisconsin PGA Match Play Championship, an important tournament for club professionals, started Monday and a champion will be crowned Thursday at the Washington County Golf Club in Hartford. On Saturday and Sunday, the fourth annual Illinois-Wisconsin Cup Tournament of Champions will be contested at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill., site of the 2009 Solheim Cup. The Wisconsin team, which is selected based on the Wisconsin State Golf Association player of the year points list, includes Hall of Famers Gary Menzel, John Pallin and Bob Gregorski. “The team is awesome,” said Eric Hjortness, the tournament founder. “The guys are very excited about playing together. We do not have a weak link.” Illinois is the defending champion and leads the series, 2-1.
Hjortness felt some pressure to use his captain’s pick on Burlington native and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo but stuck to the player-of-the-year points list.