I grew up in Milwaukee. I taught myself how to play golf here, and I learned how to type words about playing golf here, making for a week where I worked in the present as part of our U.S. Women’s Open team, but couldn’t help but look back into the past. As I spent the past six days at Erin Hills, the memories hit harder than a Maja Stark tee shot. Ooh, there’s a friend from high school. Ooh, there’s a Packers hat. Ooh, that smells like bratwurst.
Sort of. Growing up here in the ’90s, we had the Greater Milwaukee Open for our pro golf, and while the GMO will forever be remembered as the site of Tiger Woods’ pro debut, it always came during a funky part of the year (around the Open Championship), few stars came (Woods never returned) and it eventually died. But now? Over the past couple decades, thanks to courses like Erin Hills and Whistling Straits, Wisconsin’s seen it all. U.S. Opens, plural. PGA Championships, plural. A Ryder Cup. Good stuff.
But is it all gone?
Last week’s USWO will be the last major here for maybe a while. On the USGA side, the men are booked solid through 2042 (!) and are gravitating toward just a few sites, while the women don’t have an opening until 2037. On the PGA side, the tournament’s move to May hurts — it would be hard to hold a tournament here at that time, unless you like your golf as cold as the custard at Culver’s. Has Wisconsin had its fair share? You betcha, in the words of the state natives. But shouldn’t there be at least one on the horizon? Yah, fer sure. Hometown pride is certainly part of the thought, but the events here have spiked every important metric, especially this past week.
As we look back at the U.S. Women’s Open week that was, let’s make that observation No. 1 then. We’ll try for 24 more, and, to help the mood, we’ve stationed ourselves at Whitnall Park, a member of the Milwaukee Country Parks golf course family — and where I once took great advantage of the $5 twilight rate and learned what a beverage cart is. The grill is also open, and we’ll be sure to investigate.
2. Let’s talk Stark. Her game’s complete. She may be headed to superstardom. But what struck me the most was her approach, which she talked about in her Saturday night press conference (and which I focused my Sunday story on):
“I’ve just been telling myself that when I get nervous over shots, I just tell myself, OK, but how can I make myself proud right now? I make myself proud by sticking to my routines, sticking to my key swing thought, and I think that calms me down and it makes me feel like I’ve done everything that I can and that I can control. If the wind gusts up, then that’s fine and I’m going to end up in a bad spot, but hopefully our strategy is good enough that we don’t end up in that many bad spots.”
