ERIN HILLS EAGER TO SHARE SPOTLIGHT AT 2023 STATE AMATEUR

BY GARY D’AMATO

Occasionally in the summer, Eddie Wajda will get a text or email from a friend or acquaintance who played Erin Hills and noticed Wajda’s name on a plaque in the dining room.

“Someone will see it and say, ‘Is this you?’ Or, ‘Am I reading this right?’” Wajda said with a laugh. “At which point, I have to admit that, yes, I won a tournament there, but it was a while ago.”

Wajda won the 2015 Wisconsin State Amateur at Erin Hills, which honors its champions with plaques in the dining room. Wajda’s plaque is on one wall, opposite those of Brooks Koepka (2017 U.S. Open), Kelly Kraft (2011 U.S. Amateur) and Matthew McClean (2022 U.S. Mid-Amateur).

“I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily in that category of the other golfers who have won there,” said Wajda, a Brookfield native and former University of Wisconsin golfer who lives in Chicago. “But it’s really cool to see your name up there.”

Another golfer will join Wajda on Erin Hills’ “Wall of Fame” this summer when the course hosts the State Amateur for the second time. The dates are July 17-20.

The 122nd State Am follows by one year the U.S. Mid-Amateur at Erin Hills and precedes by two years the U.S. Women’s Open, underscoring the course’s extraordinary commitment to amateur golf. In addition to hosting USGA championships, it annually hosts the Marquette Intercollegiate and a major high school tournament that benefits the MACC Fund.

“We want to support amateur golf and we want to support Wisconsin golf, and the State Amateur does both of those,” said John Morrissett, Erin Hills’ competitions director. “We thoroughly enjoyed that week (in 2015). It’s an honor to host the State Amateur and soon after that we asked the WSGA, ‘When can we do it again?’”

The course essentially loses four days of revenue from public play, along with associated lodging and restaurant revenue. What does Erin Hills gain from hosting the State Amateur?

“What we gain is that we fulfill our mission of supporting golf and specifically amateur golf, and especially Wisconsin golf,” Morrissett said. “We very much want to be a good member of the Wisconsin golf community and we feel like this is one way we can do that.”

Erin Hills is a massive, windswept course, so longer hitters will enjoy an advantage at the 2023 State Amateur, as is the case in most tournaments. In 2015, the course measured at least 7,200 yards in all four rounds, including 7,235 in Round 3 and 7,226 in the final round.

Though length off the tee is important, Wajda is proof that a player of modest length can succeed at Erin Hills. His winning score was 5-over 293.

“I don’t hit it super long. I would probably call myself more of a strategic

2023 State Am

JULY 17-20

122ND WISCONSIN STATE AMATEUR CHAMPIONSHIP sponsored by West Bend

Mutual Insurance

Erin Hills, Erin

Qualifying Sites

JUNE 26

Janesville Riverside GC, Janesville Meadowbrook CC, Mount Pleasant

JUNE 27

Dretzka Park GC, Milwaukee

JUNE 28

Lake Arrowhead (Pines), Nekoosa

Lake Wisconsin CC, Prairie Du Sac

JUNE 29

Eau Claire G&CC, Eau Claire

JUNE 30

The GC at Cedar Creek, Onalaska

JULY 5

Quit Qui Oc GC, Elkhart Lake Old Hickory GC, Beaver Dam

JULY 6

Greenwood Hills CC, Wausau Washington County GC, Hartford

JULY 7

Northbrook Golf & Grill, Luxemburg player, just plotting my way around the golf course,” he said. “I think at face value most people see the pure distance at Erin Hills and say, ‘Man, that’s a long golf course,’ or ‘Man, that’s a big piece of property,’ and think they have to bomb it around there.

“But especially during the summer, the way they can get the fescue up and with the wind going and it playing firm, it definitely takes some placement. I think that’s equally as important as bombing it out there.”

Another key to success at Erin Hills, Wajda said, is lag putting.

“They’re massive putting surfaces but in a way they’re sectioned off because they have some of the elephant grave-type of features to them with the mounds,” he said. “You can find yourself with a lot of long lag putts where your speed has to be good. I do think that’s important and probably paved at least part of the way for my success there.”

Erin Hills now has hosted four USGA championships and has earned a reputation as one of America’s finest public courses. For contestants in the State Amateur, playing at least two rounds at a major championship venue — four if they make the 36-hole cut — is a rare opportunity.

“And one thing that will be neat about the (2023) State Amateur is that the players will have the memories of the 2017 U.S. Open in their minds, as well as memories from the U.S. Mid-Am, which is something they did not have in 2015,” Morrissett said. “So they’ll be thinking about Brooks Koepka; they’ll look at the Justin Thomas plaque in the 18th fairway and see if they can even imagine replicating that shot.

“Likewise, they know that just 10 months before they played here, we hosted a national championship, the U.S. Mid-Amateur, and less than two years after they play here we’re going to host the U.S. Women’s Open. So I think they’re definitely aware of that and appreciative of that. It adds to the experience, knowing that they’re playing the same course where the best golfers in the world have played and will play.”

Last year, 35-year-old Tyler Obermueller of Hudson won his second State Amateur title with a 3-under 286 total at Sand Valley. Obermueller edged 2021 WSGA Player of the Year Adam Miller, a Sand Valley caddie, by one shot.

Obermueller was somewhat of a surprise winner, considering he had played very little tournament golf in recent years while working and raising a family. The former University of Wisconsin golfer won his first State Amateur title in 2009.

Still very much a part-time player, Obermueller hopes to be at Erin Hills to defend his title against a field of battle-tested college players and seasoned veterans, along with some of Wisconsin’s top juniors and seniors who qualify.

“If there’s a venue that would make me want to come back, it would definitely be a place like Erin Hills,” he said. “I haven’t thought that far ahead, to be honest with you. If the game feels decent enough to compete and I can get away from work for a little while, I’d definitely give it a shot.”

The State Amateur champion receives a lifetime exemption into the championship, if he remains an amateur. He also receives a spot on the Nelthorpe Cup team and a five-year exemption into the Wisconsin State Open.