Published: July 23, 2014
Wisconsin coach hangs on to 2nd-round lead
Robbie Ziegler out front by 5 strokes
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Daily News
MEQUON — Robbie Ziegler walked off the 18th green at Ozaukee
Country Club relieved.
Ziegler finished a grueling and challenging second round of
the 113th Wisconsin State Amateur Championship on Tuesday with a 1-over-par 71
to take a five-stroke lead into the third round.
In Monday’s first round, Ziegler, the assistant golf coach
at the University of Wisconsin, shot a 4-under-par 66.
Ziegler leads 16-year-old Chris Colla, a junior-to-be at
Winnebago Lutheran. Colla won the WIAA Division 2 individual state golf
championship in the spring.
“I didn’t know the pins could get tougher, but I’m pretty
sure they were,” said Ziegler, a former University of Oregon golfer. “You throw
in the heat and the wind, it was a tough day.”
In the midst of a hot and humid day, with temperatures
hovering close to 90 during what has been a cool summer, mixed with a swirling
wind, the scores soared.
Out of the 165 players in the tournament, only three shot
even par (Zach Gaugert, Wil Wittmann and Mike Murphy). Nobody broke par. That’s
why Ziegler was so relieved with a 1 over.
“I knew I could maybe extend my lead a little bit or improve
ground from the other players because it was tough conditions and I was in the
morning wave,” Ziegler said. “But luckily I finished good. It gave me a good
taste in my mouth.”
However, Ziegler needed long putts on holes 15 and 16 to
make birdie and save what could’ve been a disastrous round and a momentum swing
for the entire tournament.
On 16, Ziegler made about a 35-foot putt for birdie, which
he said was key during a round filled with challenges.
“I like to think I’m a decent wind player,” Ziegler said. “I
was kind of excited when the wind was blowing when we teed off this morning, but
I just kind of hung in there all day.”
Colla was hanging close to Ziegler entering the final four
holes of his round, but he bogeyed three of his remaining four holes to slip
well off the lead.
Of the nine Washington County golfers in the field, only Colgate’s
Tom Halla survived and make the cut. Halla is tied for 48th at 13 over after
shooting a 5-over-par 75 on Tuesday.
The cut was 14 over.
“(The conditions) were pretty similar,” Jackson’s Nathan
Kannenberg said. “It was just the wind was up a little bit more, which made the
course a little bit tougher.”
Kannenberg shot 15 over Tuesday to miss the cut at 19 over;
this after a respectable 4-over-par showing in Monday’s first round.
“If you didn’t strike the ball well, the wind definitely
took the ball a lot,” Kannenberg said.
One of the notables to not make the cut was Mark Bemowski.
The 67-yearold Mukwonago native has missed only one cut at the State Amateur
since the mid-1960s. Bemowski has 14 golf championships in Wisconsin (six State
Amateurs, four Wisconsin PGA Senior State Opens, three State Senior Match Plays
and one Wisconsin PGA State Open).
Ziegler’s day started on the par-4 438-yard No. 1 and
through seven holes, he was even par for the day. He said patience was the key
to getting through those holes. Unfortunately, he had to push the envelope, but
not at his choosing. Ziegler and his group were issued a warning for too slow
pace of play.
Ziegler said he had a hunch a warning was coming, but when
it actually came, that didn’t make things easier.
“It definitely affected me,” he said, adding the warning
took him out of a routine, giving him more to think about than just the next
shot.
On No. 8, Ziegler bogeyed the par-4 hole to drop him back to
3 under. It didn’t get better as he made bogey on the par-4 No. 10 and No. 12
to slip to just 1 under. He got back-to-back pars on 13 and 14.
Ziegler’s birdies on 15 and 16 changed the round. It got him
to 3 under.
“I got out of rhythm a little bit,” he said. “But I just
hung in there all day.” In Monday’s round, Ziegler shot 2 under on his last
three holes.
“I knew if I just stayed away from big numbers, bogeys are
fine,” Ziegler said. “They’re not going to kill you out here, especially with
the wind.”
And that’s why he was relieved to shoot 1 over.
“I’m pretty happy with my score with these pins and wind,
the heat, it’s pretty darn good,” Ziegler said.
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