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A handful of players began to separate themselves from the field during the second round of the 125th Wisconsin Amateur Championship on July 21 at West Bend Country Club, setting up a pivotal third round on July 22.
Brandon Cloete, who played at Marquette University, and Oconomowoc’s Garrett Schultz shared the lead with matching scores of even par 142 through two rounds. Both players shot even par 71 in each round, though they did it far differently.
Cloete, who finished his college career with the Golden Eagles in 2015, made a tournament-best 10 birdies through two rounds. But he also had eight bogeys and a double bogey. Schultz has made seven birdies against five bogeys and a double bogey.
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Schultz, the 2023 Wisconsin State Golf Association player of the year who finished his college career at the Milwaukee School of Engineering in 2022, closed with a nifty 2-under 33 to match Cloete atop the leaderboard.
But it was defending champion Vince Sigl who put the field on notice when he shot a 1-under 70 to shoot up the leaderboard and vault himself into contention at 2-over for the tournament. Sigl's day was nearly much better than that, however, as he had gotten to 3-under on the day through 16 holes. But he bogeyed Nos. 17 and 18 to finish the day alone in fourth place, two shots off the pace.
Sigl, who became the youngest champion of the event in the modern era (the tournament changed to stroke play in 1971) when he claimed the trophy at 17 years old in 2025, is vying to become the first back-to-back winner since Ryan Quinn accomplished the feat in 2001-02.
Sigl, who is from Seymour, will play collegiately at UW-Green Bay, joined Middleton’s Jacob Beckman (1-under 70) as the only players to finish the second round under par.
Quietly sitting alone in third place, however, is Wisconsin golfer Spencer Turtz. He is 1-over for the tournament after shooting an even par 71 in the second round. Turtz, who is from North Carolina, was the Badgers’ top player at the Big Ten Championships in May, tying for 29th.
Hoping to make a move on July 22 will be Sturgeon Bay’s Griffin Pohl and Eau Claire’s William Schlitz, who are tied for fifth at 3-over. Five players are tied for seventh at 4-over.
Former Dallas Cowboys quarterback and current NFL game analyst Tony Romo snuck in under the cut line in his home state event by a single shot, finishing his two rounds at 15-over 157. The Burlington native briefly cracked the top 10 of the leaderboard during the first round of play on July 21, but the tournament nearly got away from him in his closing nine holes on July 22 as he went 6-over on Nos. 1-5 [he finished on the front nine]. Romo closed with four straight pars, however, to make the cut.
Four-way tie after round one
Cloete, Schultz, Pohl and Wauwatosa’s Adam Garski all shared the lead after a windy first round was completed on July 20. The quartet all shot an even par 71 to open the tournament. They topped a crowded opening round leaderboard as six players were one shot back and a dozen players were just two strokes back.
The tournament began with 156 players in the field, including eight former champions.
The champions from 2017-21 (Matt Tolan, Harrison Ott, Hunter Eichorn, Thomas Longbella and Piercen Hunt) all turned professional, however, and were ineligible to compete.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Defending champ Vince Sigl makes run up leaderboard at the State Am
