The 2011 Wisconsin State Amateur Championship was played last week at the Maple Bluff Country Club in Madison, WI. It was won by Mike McDonald with a one over par round of 285 and it was a very interesting final day you can read about here and here. As interesting as was the final round (maybe I'll comment on it in a future post), the triumph of strategy over power was not the real story for me.
Earlier in the morning of the final day I followed the 8:50 tee time for 18 holes with Randy Zikeli and Mark Bemowski. They were well out of the competition and I was the only one following them.
My reason for following this pairing was that I had played high school golf against Mark Bemowski. In high school, it was a little frustrating to be so seriously outclassed by a player my age. Today, I look back at it as a great privilege.
Here's Mark's major accomplishments as listed in his recent Senior National Amateur Hall of Fame induction announcement (here):
- Wisconsin State Open Champion in 1974.
- Wisconsin State Amateur Champion in 1976, 1981, 1984, 1997, 1999 and 2005
- United State Senior Amateur Champion in 2004
- United States Senior Amateur Runner-Up in 2002 and 2005
- United States Senior Amateur Semi-Finalist in 2009
- Wisconsin State Senior Amateur Champion in 2005 and 2010.
- Wisconsin State Senior Open Champion in 2010.
He was inducted into the WSGA Hall of Fame in 1999 (here).
Mark finished the WSGA in a tie for 27th at +13 with 78/71/77/71. Had his first and third rounds been the same as is second and fourth, he would have won the tournament.
Attending a State Amateur Championship is the best free golf you will ever see, and you can banter with the contestants (Mark's first question for me was "You must have nothing better to do today if you're out here following us!"). I followed a few other players and they all seemed happy to have an appreciative gallery!
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