Kaylor Steger tops Mike Van Sickle in playoff to win Wisconsin State Open
· Yahoo Sports
FRANKLIN – As Kaylor Steger wiped tears from his eyes after winning the 106th Wisconsin State Open on Aug. 19 on the 18th green at Tuckaway Country Club in Franklin, Mike Van Sickle could only laugh to keep from crying while sitting on the patio.
Steger bested Van Sickle on the first hole of a sudden death playoff following a Van Sickle 3-putt on the par 4 18th hole, but that came after the pair dueled down the stretch of the final round, trading impossible shots and clutch putts before Steger claimed his first State Open trophy.
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Steger turned pro shortly after winning the WIAA Division I state title for Oak Creek High School in 2014 and has contended in State Opens before but had never been able to break through. He is rostered in the Grass League [described as a “high-stakes par 3 golf league”], made 11 starts on PGA Tour Latinoamérica in 2023, and has been a mainstay on the mini-tours.
“Just grinding for so many years and had so many chances at this tournament and to finally get it done, I’m just so thankful just for the opportunity to be able to do it,” Steger said.
“A couple years ago I basically got DQ’d from one of the State Opens at SentryWorld [in 2023] because I ran out of golf balls. And I missed qualifying, I think I lost in two playoffs the next year to get into the State Open.
"Just to get back and now to be able to not have to ever worry about it, that’s a little burden lifted off for sure.”
This year, Steger took an assistant pro position at the River Bend Club in Virginia and has not played as much this summer as in the past.
Despite that, Steger went back to some fundamentals taught by the late swing coach Dave Rasmussen and found a groove. The victory (and $15,000 winner’s check and lifetime exemption to the tournament) gives him confidence as the 30-year-old once again tries to fulfill a dream PGA Tour Qualifying School in the fall.
“Just, I don’t know,” he said, “There’s something…I just can’t quite seem to give the dream up. You never know.”
The cheery Van Sickle wasn’t flabbergasted over his final missed putts, it was the fact Steger shot an 8-under-par 64 over the final 18 holes of the 36-hole final day while Van Sickle fired a 7-under 65. This after Van Sickle began the round with a 1-shot lead.
“I would have taken it,” he said. “On this course? Yeah. That wins. That wins 100 times out of a 100,” he exclaimed. “Somehow we got into the thousands. How many times out of a thousand? So hats off to him.”
Beyond that, Van Sickle birdied four straight holes on his front nine to take a three-shot advantage, only to see Steger hole out a 3-iron from 242 yards on the 535-yard par 5 12th hole to even the duo at 12-under par.
Van Sickle poured in an eagle putt on top of the Steger’s first career albatross to take a two-shot lead moments later, and it was then that the tournament effectively became match play.
When asked how he would recount that hole in the future, Van Sickle quickly quipped, “It will not be told to anyone, ever.
“I need to forget that that ever happened or I’ll never sleep another night in my life. If you told someone that happened in the final round of an event you were leading, it sounds ridiculous. Oh yeah, he holes out for double eagle an then I made an eagle and it’s like, OK grandpa, I’m sure that happened.’”
Steger: “Everyone went crazy and I’m like, ‘Did that go in?’ And then he made eagle on top of me and I’m like, you gotta be kidding me! Respectfully. But that kind of got me going then.”
Barrett Kelpin, who played with the pair in the final round: “That was wild. That was when I really knew. Like, ah, they’re getting pretty far out in front now. Then I made par on that hole. They were grooving pretty good at that point.”
Van Sickle: “I’ve played enough golf to know it’s not enough, it’s never enough, you gotta go get one more.”
Following the fireworks on the 12th hole, Steger ripped off four more birdies over his next five holes against Van Sickle’s one birdie. That gave him a 1-shot lead heading into the uphill 490-yard par 4 18th.
Steger had to make par to win the tournament in regulation after Van Sickle missed his birdie putt, but Steger’s chip from the back fringe did not roll out and he bogeyed with two putts against Van Sickle’s par to send the tournament to a playoff hole.
“Been in a lot of playoffs in my life and my record is pretty good,” Steger said. “Just honestly in my head, I was telling myself ‘I don’t lose in playoffs.’ And went and hit two good golf shots in there.”
He then two-putted from about 30 feet to claim the title.
Steger shot a solid 4-under 68 in the first round on Aug. 17, shot a 1-over 73 on Aug. 18 and 3-under 69 for the third round set him up for the final-round showdown.
Van Sickle won quite a bit when he played full time in Wisconsin as a student-athlete at Marquette University – a program-record 11 times to be exact – and he’s been one of the more dominant players in the Pennsylvania PGA section the last five years. Heading into the tournament, he had claimed eight section wins.
The 39-year-old’s second-place finish in his second start in the State Open bested his tie for third in 2025. He claimed a $10,000 prize for the finish.
Whistling Straits professional David Bach finished in third at 10-under for the tournament after shooting a 5-under 67 in the final round.
Kelpin shot a 3-under 69 to finish alone in fourth place at 9-under for the tournament.
Trying to crash the party of professionals jammed at the top of the leaderboard were University of Wisconsin redshirt junior Charlie Erlandson and Marquette senior Mason Schmidtke.
Schmidtke was at or near the top of the field since his opening round 5-under 67 on Aug. 17, and he stayed in the mix with an even par second round and a steady 1-under third round. That put him in one of the final groups for the finishing 18 but he faded out of contention over his final nine holes to finish 2-over on his fourth round and tie for 12th at 4-under for the tournament.
Erlandson, however, shot a sparkling 6-under 66 in his final round to shoot up 13 spots and finish as the low amateur in a tie for fifth place at 8-under for the tournament. Erlandson, who won the Ray Fischer Amateur on June 28 when he played the final 36 holes at 18-under par, made seven birdies in his final round against one bogey.
“It’s good, it’s a result of a lot of practice,” Erlandson said. “I mean, it’s a good steppingstone for sure. Low ‘am’ [is] awesome. I want to finish as high up as I can. A bad first round [74] kind of set me back. I played pretty well.”
Erlandson tied with professional Patrick Adler, a Marquette alumnus, who shot a 3-under 69 over his final 18 holes. Brookfield’s Harrison Ott was once again denied in his bid to win his third State Open, and his first as a professional, as he closed with rounds of 72 and 70 to finish alone in seventh place at 7-under.
Rounding out the top 10 were professionals Blake Wisdom (Lake Geneva) and George Kneiser (Dousman) in a tie for eighth at 6-under while professional Craig Czerniejewski (Hartford) and amateur Russell Dettmering (Merrill) tied for 10th at 5-under.
Badgers’ Blake Wisdom catches fire in third round
University of Wisconsin alumnus Blake Wisdom fired the round of the tournament during his third round early on Aug. 19. Wisdom, who played a graduate season for the Badgers before turning pro in 2024, shot a 6-under 66 to get into contention late in the morning. He began the day 1-over par through two rounds but by the time he completed a third round that featured eight birdies against two bogeys, he was tied for the lead.
But because Wisdom began his third round seven shots behind leader Max Schwarz, the WPGA could not re-pair him with a later tee time for the final 18 holes. So, with a six-hole headstart on the final groups, Wisdom had a chance to set the pace for the final round.
He did, too. At least initially. He continued his torrid play with two straight birdies to get to 7-under for the tournament and a share of the lead, but he cooled with two bogeys over his next four holes. He finished with a 1-under 71 for the final round and tied for eighth.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Kaylor Steger tops Mike Van Sickle in playoff to win Wisconsin State Open