June 22, 2018 at 11:53 a.m.
Three's company
Rhinelander golfers Opsal, Willis and Schoppe qualify for WSGA State Amateur
Three's company
Three Rhinelander golfers - Ben Opsal, Josh Willis and Kass Schoppe - were among eight to make it out of a 40-player qualifying event Thursday at Timber Ridge Golf Club. They will now be part of the 156-player, 72-hole stroke play event that will take place July 23-26 at Minocqua Country Club.
Opsal shot a 2-over par round of 74 to tie for third on the day while Willis and Schoppe each shot 75 to finish in a tie for sixth. Thursday's 18-hole event qualified eight players and two alternates for next month's championship.
"There's definitely plenty of good players in Rhinelander," Opsal said. "It will be nice to have a few represent us at the State Am."
Opsal was tied for the lead at the turn following a front-nine 35. He made a couple of stumbles on the back, including a double bogey on the par-4 12th hole, but he birdied the 16th, one of four birdies on his card.
"I had two birdies in the first three holes. It's always nice to start strong," Opsal said. "I kind of slipped in the middle, had a four-putt on one hole, but bounced back toward the end. I made a birdie and a couple pars coming in. It's good to finish like that."
Willis had an adventurous front nine with three birdies and four bogies as he turned in 37, but parred seven of the final nine holes, including an up-and-down for par on the last to finish the day safely in the field.
"I'm not mad about (shooting 75) at all," said Willis, the 2012 Great Northern Conference runner-up when he played for Rhinelander High School. "I think that's probably going to get in. The course was really nice. The greens were really fast. It was just great out there today."
Schoppe had three birdies on his card, including one at the last when he stuck an approach with a wedge inside of six feet from the hole and made the ensuing putt.
"I was striking the ball good all day, let a couple of easy strokes get away, but was happy to stick it close on the last hole and make one up," he said.
The list of qualifiers from the event had a decidedly local feel to it. Cuba City's Drew Zimmermann (77), who won a four-man playoff for the final qualifying spot, was the only qualifier who resides outside of the 715 area code.
Mercer native Michale Kowaleski Jr. made four birdies on the back nine, including one at the last, to finish at even-par 72 and earn medallist honors by one stroke over Merrill High School junior-to-be Russell Dettmering.
"I was struggling a little bit lately with a couple of swing changes," Kowalski said. "I was hooking the ball a lot. I dialed it in a little bit today and played well. I had some errant shots but made up for it with some nice putts. I had some great birdie putts on the back. It went well."
Ashland's John Teller and Eagle River's Garth Glister each shot 74 to tie with Opsal for third.
Local flavor
The fact that the state amateur will be played so close to home for the first time was definitely a tantalizing incentive for several of the golfers in Thursday's field.
"They (the WSGA) never have tournaments up here," Willis said. "Other years it's always Madison or Milwaukee or Sheboygan, places like that. It's pretty cool to have it up here. I don't have to pay a bunch of money to go stay in a hotel or anything. Plus, I've played Minocqua (CC) and it's a really cool course. You have to really know somebody to play it, unless you're playing in something like this. It's going to be a lot of fun."
Schoppe admitted he's been spending more time lately watching his sons play youth baseball than working on his game, but said the chance to play in a big event locally was too good to pass up.
"It's been a while since I've tried to play a tournament like this and when I heard it was going to be up here, close to home I figured, 'Why not give it a shot?'"
Up until Thursday, only one local player had qualified. That was John Hogan of Minocqua, who earned an exemption into the tournament at the club champion at Minocqua Country Club. He now will have some other local faces to join him in the competition.
"There were a lot of guys that were local," said Hogan, who doubled as the starter for Thursday's qualifer. "I did all the announcing (of the players off the first tee). I announce where everyone is from and there are a lot of local people. There were very few people from downstate. It was mostly all local people here today giving them an opportunity to get into the country club and play."
Two other Rhinelander players tried to get into the field, but did not make the cut. Brad O'Loughlin was in contention at the turn. He shot 36 on the front nine to get within one shot of the lead, but things went downhill after a triple bogey on the par-5 11th as he tied for 16th with a round of 80. Josh Thompson, meanwhile, couldn't get it going on the front nine as he struggled to a 47. He came back in 37, but his round of 84 was seven strokes out of the playoff for the last qualifying spot.
Three members of the Great Northern Conference-champion Lakeland Union High School golf time tried to make the field, but came up short. Kyle Bengtson was the best of the trio with a 79. Ansen Nomm shot 83 and Adam Lazaroff shot 87. The only other GNC representative in the field, Mosinee's Stanford Swid, shot 89.
Lakeland Times sports writer Nick Sabato contributed to this report. Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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