Illinois Wesleyan University Golfer Paces Play at Resorters
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This year, 66 golfers playing in more than 12 flights enjoyed near-perfect weather and conditions as they competed for awards and bragging rights in the 99th annual Resorters Match Play Golf Tournament at Peninsula State Park Golf Course.
The course’s general manager, Jason Daubner, said the tournament highlights summer vacations for golfers from all over the United States and from all walks of life. Since matches are set up based on ability, it has even resulted in golfers in their teens playing against players in their 90s.
St. Louis-area native and former D-flight champ Doug Chomeau, who resides in Egg Harbor each year from Memorial Day through Halloween, described why he has entered the tournament each summer for half a century.
“It’s just an everyman’s tournament,” said Chomeau, who said his handicap grew to 25 as he aged. “There are people here from everywhere and all walks of life and just enjoying Door County.”
An experienced tournament golfer who has played in top state amateur tournaments finally recorded her first women’s championship, and a college student dominated three matches to get his name engraved on the Resorters trophy for the second time in the men’s competition.
In the women’s championship flight, Madison-area golfer Pat Roisum defeated 2022 champ Jill Trider, up 2 with one hole to play. Amy Gehrke defeated Maureen Trotter in the first hole of a playoff to finish third.
The 99th men’s champion is Suburban-Chicago Lyons High graduate and Illinois Wesleyan University golfer Griffin Pohl. The all-conference college player carries a plus-1.5 handicap – meaning, in his better rounds, he typically scores at or below par.
Pohl dispatched his first-round foe – frequent contender Chris Tate – after 13 holes and then stayed on the course to finish with a 68 on the opening day. He polished off another longtime Resorters challenger, Chris Browning – up seven with five holes to play, and then on Day 3, finished four strokes up on Steve Sanders after 14 holes.
Pohl – whose home course this summer was Horseshoe Bay – said he’s looking forward to next season at Illinois Wesleyan, a perennial top-10 NCAA Division III power. He’s studying finance at the Bloomington, Illinois school.
The 2022 champ, Scott Jardine, finished fourth after two playoff holes with A.J. Browning in the championship consolation bracket.
To build some excitement and camaraderie, Tournament Week began with a Sunday par-three tournament on Peninsula’s six-hole short course. The Sunday gathering gained momentum this year, as 28 people – almost double the number from previous years – entered, including some of the top golfers. Chris Browning carded a 1-under-par score of 17 to win the men’s competition, and Amy Gehrke shot even-par 18 to win the women’s competition.
Planning for the 100th Annual Event
Daubner asked golfers during this year’s awards ceremony to share a few memories from Resorters tournaments and traditions, but also to email him those stories and notes for compilation next summer in preparation for the 100th annual event.
Daubner recalled large galleries following the championships in years past, such as a sudden-death playoff that took nine holes to decide. That year, 15-time champion Mike Gillam, and challenger Aaron Slaby, had to part a crowd in front of the ninth green to take their final putts. Golfers at the awards ceremony also reminisced about some of the top players of the past – such as Rudy Carl, who entered the tournament through seven decades, and Betty Chomeau, who’s still competing and who had at least one win in championship class in each of five decades.
