Wisconsin State Open:

Four golfers share lead.

Andy Buege is back in familiar territory, atop the leader board at the Wisconsin State Open. This time, he’d like to finish one off.

Buege, 32, a professional from Abrams, had a three-stroke lead with three holes to go in 2015 and wound up losing to Kyle Henning by a shot. Last year, he was among the leaders after the first round and finished ninth.

“I know I can get myself there,” said Buege, a former college baseball player who didn’t start playing competitive golf until he was 23. “You have to finish it off. The first hole and the 72nd hole are equal.”

On Monday, he fired a 3under-par 69 at North Shore Country Club in Mequon to share the firstround lead with Ben Bendtsen III of Mount Pleasant and amateurs Garrett Jones of Madison and Brian Murtagh of Milwaukee.

Buege, Murtagh and Jones all made six birdies and two bogeys. Murtagh bounced back from a double-bogey on the 14th hole with birdies on Nos. 15, 16 and 17. Bendtsen, the 2008 State Amateur champion, hit only four fairways but made every putt inside 10 feet.

Bendtsen is the head baker at family-owned Bendtsen’s Bakery in Racine and had played only three tournament rounds in 2017. He finished third in the Racine County Open, a tournament he has won eight times.

Four golfers were tied for second at 2-under 70: professionals Joshua Udelhofen of Platteville and Kaylor Steger of Mount Pleasant and amateurs Phillip Johnson of Colgate and Michael Harris of Shorewood.

The group of 10 at 71 included former State Open champions Jim Lemon of Verona and David Roesch of Germantown and twotime champion Ryan Helminen of Menasha. Defending champion Jordan Elsen opened with a 75.

The second round is scheduled to start at 7:15 a.m. Tuesday; the tournament concludes with a 36hole finale Wednesday. Professionals in the field are playing for a purse of approximately $60,000, with about $10,000 going to the winner.