Horseshoe Bay Pro Takes Third in Winter PGA Event

Jamie Christianson

Horseshoe Bay head professional Jamie Christianson of Egg Harbor and Brookfield-area pro Mick Smith held a two-day lead and finished third recently in the four-round, best-ball Senior-Junior Team Championship at Port St. Lucie, Florida.

Christianson, 38, agreed to enter the PGA Winter Championships series tournament this winter while at Smith’s 50th-birthday party last year.

“For our first event, two guys coming down from Wisconsin, we were pleased and disappointed. We could have won that event,” said Christianson, who seemed to make birdies whenever Smith didn’t during the first two rounds, but carded “only” a 66 in the final round. “We kind of got cold together, which is never good in that kind of event.”

Smith, a multiple-time Wisconsin PGA Player of the Year who is trying to earn a card on the senior tour, actually shot nine-under on his ball in the second round, and the team got a great start when Christianson birdied the first two holes on the first day.

“We kind of had a competition between the two of us to see who could make the most birdies,” Christianson said.

He said he’s playing more golf than usual this winter because Horseshoe Bay club leaders have encouraged him to get his game in shape for the PGA Professional Championship April 30 – May 3 in Santa Ana, New Mexico. The Golf Channel will televise some of that tournament. The top 20 finishers may play in the PGA Championship.

Christianson earned the berth in the national club-pro tourney by winning the 2022 Wisconsin PGA Professional Championship with back-to-back rounds of 70.