Former Kohler Co. GM Jim Richerson elected to PGA of America Hall of Fame
Jim Richerson, who was Kohler Co.’s general manager and director of golf for more than 11 years and later served as president of the PGA of America, has been elected to the PGA Hall of Fame.
Richerson is one of six inductees in the 2025 class and is joined by PGA members Ronny Glanton, Jim McLean and JD Turner, LPGA legend Nancy Lopez and honorary PGA member and adaptive trick-shot artist Dennis Walters.
Jim Richerson is the president of the PGA of America.
They will be inducted into the PGA of America Hall of Fame at the 109th PGA Annual Meeting, during a special ceremony Nov. 5 at the Omni PGA Frisco Resort in Frisco, Texas.
Richerson has been the general manager and chief operating officer of The Riviera Country Club & The Riviera Tennis Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., since 2021. He was elected president at the PGA of America in 2020.
When he was elected PGA secretary as a member of the Wisconsin PGA Section in 2016, he became the first WPGA member to serve as a national officer. Before going to Riviera, Richerson was senior vice president of operations for Troon. Previously, he worked for Kohler Co., overseeing the operations at Whistling Straits and Blackwolf Run and The Duke’s Course in St. Andrews, Scotland.
The PGA of America Hall of Fame is the highest honor the PGA can bestow upon its members or ambassadors of the game. Among those previously inducted is the late Manuel de la Torre, the longtime head PGA professional and noted teacher at Milwaukee Country Club.
Stoughton's Kiley Specht will wait for U.S. Women's Mid-Am ... until after becoming a mom
The Sweet Spot was working the baby-name think tank quite hard in recent weeks, since Stoughton's Kiley Specht qualified last month for the upcoming U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur Championship despite being seven months pregnant and still entertaining the idea of teeing it up in the USGA event in three weeks in Monterey, Calif.
We were thinking a boy born the same month Mom was competing on golf's greatest peninsula would answer nicely to Monte Specht. And then Kiley confirmed to us this past weekend that she is having a girl.
That challenged The Sweet Spot's creative talents — Terey, even with a conventional spelling (Teri?) would have been a bit of a reach — but it appears we are off the hook. Kiley also confirmed that she will not risk having her first born at Pebble Beach General and, per USGA rules, has opted to defer her U.S. Women's Mid-Am berth to 2026.
Specht will instead tee it up Aug. 29 through Sept. 6 of next year at Montclair GC in West Orange, N.J.
In the meantime, her spot in the 2025 field will go to Hartland's Jessica (Hauser) Krattiger, the first alternate last month at the Final Qualifier at Naga-Waukee War Memorial GC in Pewaukee. She will be competing in her second U.S. Women's Mid-Am (her first since 2022) and third USGA event overall. Krattiger qualified for the 2004 U.S. Girls Junior two years before starting her collegiate career at Ohio State.
Three UW golfers named to Big Ten women’s watch list
The Big Ten has named three University of Wisconsin golfers to the 2025-26 Women's Golfers to Watch List: junior Kate Brody, senior Alexia Siehl and sophomore Izzi Stricker.
Brody, of Grand Blanc, Mich., finished second at the 2025 Big Ten Championships and took the momentum to her home state this summer, finishing T-8 at the Michigan PGA Women's Open and reaching the quarterfinals of the Michigan Women's Amateur. She also finished third at the Wisconsin State Women's Open in June.
Siehl, of Fort Mill, S.C., comes off a strong spring in which she finished 10th at the Buckeye Invitational and T-25 at the Big Ten Championships.
Stricker started the year playing as an individual in four events before making the UW lineup for two tournaments in March. This summer, the Waunakee native won the Wisconsin Women's Amateur and the Wisconsin Women’s Match Play and finished T-9 at the Sentry Wisconsin Women’s State Open.
Chaska Golf Course celebrating its 50th anniversary
Tom Boldt after his ace.
The Sweet Spot was honored to tee it up last week at Chaska Golf Course in Greenville with Tom Boldt, chairman of The Boldt Company, which has owned the Larry Packard-designed course since it opened in 1975.
Bob Burns, the first PGA professional at Chaska, presented custom putters to Boldt, The Sweet Spot and the other two members of our foursome: Dan Kaminski and Mike Ferris, Burn’s first two hires.
Boldt’s father, Oscar Boldt, built Chaska, which at the time was one of the best public-access courses in the Fox Cities and remains a popular course today.
The Sweet Spot considers himself a good luck charm because two days after we played, Boldt aced the 212-yard 13th hole with a 4-hybrid.
“Unfortunately, I didn’t see it go in,” Boldt wrote in an email. “I was too busy retrieving my tee.”
What’s new on eBay this week?
Each week, The Sweet Spot highlights cool, weird or whimsical golf-related items that are up for auction on eBay.com.
This week’s featured item is a poster from the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills. The poster, a print of a painting by noted artist Lee Wybranski, measures 24 x 36 inches and depicts the 18th hole, with the clubhouse and Holy Hill in the background. Brooks Koepka won the championship, the first of his five major titles.
The poster comes rolled in a tube. The buy-it-now price is $139.99.
Tap-ins, lip-outs and double-breakers
Cumberland native Leigh Klasse shot 77-83 in stroke-play qualifying and advanced to the 64-player match play field at the 69th U.S. Senior Women’s Amateur Championship at The Omni Homestead Resort in Hot Springs, Va. Klasse, who lives in Surprise, Ariz., is scheduled to face Suzi Spotleson of Canton, Ohio, on Monday in the Round of 64. Pewaukee’s Maggie Leef shot 81-83 and did not advance to match play. … It’s hard to believe, but Scottie Scheffler went 0-2-2 in the last Ryder Cup in Rome. … Titleist and Pinehurst Resort have announced the opening of the Titleist Shop at Pinehurst, an immersive fitting and retail experience located just steps from the 18th green on Pinehurst’s No. 2 course.
