An A-Z visitors guide to Milwaukee Wisconsin. Sponsored by Key Magazine Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/841204
26 keymilwaukee.com The granddaddy of all U.S. golf tournaments is over. Apparently it was a huge success for the game, Wisconsin citizens, Wisconsin business, and Wisconsin's image. Maybe now people won't confuse us with Minnesota…at least not as often. But after you reach the top of Everest, there's only one way to go. Not so fast. Before the U.S. Open hangover wore off, Wisconsin whet its golf whistle a week later at the PGA Champions Tour AmFam Championship at University Ridge in Madison (June 19-25). This month (July 6-9), the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic comes to Green Bay (Oneida) at Thornberry Creek. The LPGA event is another first for Wisconsin golf. Both tourneys are annual events, so you can mark your calendars now for next year. Beyond that, Wisconsin can look forward to the 2020 Ryder Cup at Whistling Straits – another first for Wisconsin golf (some would say bigger than the U.S. Open) – and probably another PGA Championship, also at the Straits. Last, but not least, Wisconsin is still ranked the #1 golf destination in the world for 2017 by golfadvisor.com. With the likes of the recently opened and widely acclaimed Sand Valley (architects Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore) in Nekoosa, that honor shouldn't go anywhere else very soon. Then there's Wild Rock (same architects as Erin Hills) in Wisconsin Dells; Grand Geneva, Geneva National and Hawk's View in Lake Geneva; and a host of other outstanding resort courses and standalone tracks that always will make golf a huge state attraction. Erin Hills has been sort of an enigma. Of course, the weather had something to do with that. Most of the world's best players didn't make the cut and were out in two days, while lesser-known players tore it up. Go figure. Whether Wisconsin gets another U.S. Open and at what venue is anyone's guess, although both Jordan Spieth and Ernie Els said Erin Hills deserves another championship. The winning score (-16) would have won every U.S. Open ever played except one, and then it would have qualified for a playoff. The fifth-place finishers (-10) would have won every U.S. Open ever played except two. One obvious way to make Erin Hills tougher would be to narrow the fairways. Heard at the championship: • Bubba Watson unveiled a driver he said he got off eBay. • Paul Casey asked for some organic fruit from Piggly-Wiggly. • Martin Kaymer said five would be a good score on Erin Hills' par 5s. (The average score on the four par 5s for all players for the week was 4.919. Kaymer averaged 4.75 on the fives Where does Wisconsin golf go after the U.S. Open? Erin Hills Media's inner sanctum at the U.S. Open where all the stories are written and interviews done. More than 400 media outlets from around the world are represented.