“‘Did you come here to qualify or to win?'” Mason Schmidtke asked as he and his brother Max made the turn onto the 394-yard par-four tenth at Rolling Meadows Golf Course in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin.
Max — the graduate student at South Dakota University — was competing in a tournament qualifier with Marquette sophomore Mason caddying and asking his older brother if he was going to flip the on-switch for the back nine.
“We were probably right on the cut-line, and he wasn’t too happy with how he was playing,” Mason said, who tends to play more aggressively than the more conservative Max.
“We always have options of what we want to do,” Mason said. “When I caddy for him, I always get him to see the other side of the coin of; ‘You are good enough to pull off the shot.'”
This dynamic, which the two collegiate golfer siblings share, helped Max catch fire and make five birdies in a row on the back nine.
“We really play into each other’s hands well,” Max said. “I always enjoy making that walk with him.”
Those walks include qualifiers, summer tournaments when the other brother isn’t competing and Mason’s U.S. Junior Amateur bid at Bandon Dunes in Oregon in 2022.
“That was his first USGA championship and mine too in a way,” Max said. “That was one of those experiences that I look back on when I think about how the game of golf has brought Mason and I closer together.”
The Schmidtke brothers’ shared experiences don’t always include being side-by-side as player and caddie.
At this past summer’s Wisconsin Amateur at The Legend at Merrill Hills in Waukesha, Wisconsin, the two were paired with each other for the first time in competition.
Mason got the best of Max in the third round of the tournament, shooting an even-par round of 71 to Max’s nine-over-par 80.
“Mom and dad didn’t have to split up that day,” Max said. “I would’ve liked to play better, but that was one of my favorite golf memories with him.”
While they haven’t been paired together in their collegiate tournaments, South Dakota and Marquette have met in competition once at last spring’s Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate at Atkins Golf Club in Urbana, Illinois.
This time, Max had the upper hand, finishing tied for 26th at +11 for the tournament versus Mason’s share of 36th place, just three shots worse.
“When Mason and Max go out and compete, they want to beat one another,” Bailey said. “They are super competitive, which has allowed them to rise to the level they are at. Having two guys at that level is pretty unique and they have done a lot to push each other.”
While the two are separated during the school year, they are still able to talk and work through their games.
“Mason’s always relying on his older brother if he’s going through a little bit of a rut, no one knows his game better, so he trusts him enough to want to seek out his advice,” Bailey said. “Whether things are going well or maybe they aren’t, he’s always just connecting with his brother to get some feedback.”
The brothers could face off two more times in the spring season.
First in March at the Bell Bank “Pay it Forward” Collegiate at Wigwam Golf Club in Litchfield, Arizona. Then again in April at the Spring Boilermaker, hosted by Purdue University, at Ackerman Allen Golf Course in West Lafayette, Indiana.
“Once we go to tournaments, obviously we want to beat the crap out of each other,” Max said. “I think he’d [Mason] tell you the same thing, but once we’re off the golf course we want to know how the other one did and if one of us misses a cut or doesn’t qualify for a tournament, we’re pretty much guaranteed to caddy for the other.”
This story was written by Trevor Hilson. He can be reached at [email protected] or @hilsontrevor on Twitter/X.
