Michigan Golf Journal June 2024

Editor’sLetter

Never in the history of golf in Michigan has there been so many impactful golf tournaments scheduled in our state in one month, making this June action PACKED. If you cannot find a tournament that interests you, then you never will. The events and our previews include:

PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic

LPGA Tour Meijer Classic for Simply Give

LPGA Tour Dow Championship

Epson Tour Island Resort Championship

Epson Tour Firekeepers Hotel and Casino Championship

Michigan Open

Michigan Women’s Open

Michigan Amateur

Michigan Women’s Amateur

What's Inside:

10

18

GAM Boys and Girls Junior Championships

MHSAA Boys’ High School Finals

We are also sharing two wonderful but different hole-in-one stories that go beyond the norm, plus a very unique story about a Michigan college team that won their Regional but were not allowed to advance to the National tournament, through no fault of their own.

If you like golfing Up North, we have a fun Northern Michigan tour story to share by three time Michigan Sports Writer of the Year Jack Ebling.

Plus, we catch up with two Traverse City residents – PGA Tour player Ryan Brehm and golf course designer extraordinaire Tom Doak. As always, we try to bring you lots of different perspectives, viewpoints and unique story content. Thank you as always for joining us.

TomLang EditorandPublisher

22

Michigander Ryan Brehm Playing with Confidence Going into the Rocket

ByTomLang ByTomLang

Ryan Brehm admitted that playing in front of the hometown crowd at the PGA Tour Rocket Mortgage Classic applies more pressure to his game.

And that’s not a bad thing.

“For sure, no doubt (there’s more pressure), and I don’t think that’s a ‘con’, I think it’s a ‘pro.’ I think the longer I play and the more experience I get at this game, that kind of energy is a good thing, it’s not a negative,” Brehm told me recently. “I think it works out to be a positive. I would not have said that 10 years ago.

“There’s always a good energy in Detroit for

sure. It doesn’t matter to me what form my game is in, I seem to always be trying a little harder when the hometown crowd is there.”

His game is in good form considering his recent finish at the Zurich Classic in New Orleans. In the team event, Brehm paired up with good friend on the PGA Tour Mark Hubbard, and they missed being in the playoff with winners Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry, by just one stroke. Brehm and Hubbard played in the final round foursome with McIlroy and Lowry, and Brehm said he enjoyed that experience too, despite all eyes being on the closing group.

“I’d never been in that environment (paired with McIlroy and Lowry final round) before, and you never know if you’ll get in it again,” Brehm said. “I tried to embrace it the best I could. And it was a

blast; it’s exhilarating. I don’t think I slept for quite a while.

“And honestly it stung. I was pretty bummed we didn’t win, I thought we were going to win.”

Brehm is a native of Mt. Pleasant and current Traverse City resident. He starred at Michigan State and has won most amateur and pro events in Michigan at least once (with 3 Mich Open titles), plus two Korn Ferry Tour wins and the PGA Tour’s 2022 Puerto Rico Open, which gave him fully-exempt PGA Tour status through the end of this current season. He is 38 years old.

“When I first got my PGA Tour card (2016) the caliber of play… it’s just grown immensely,”

he said. “I don’t think I’m getting worse, but the cutlines just keep getting lower and lower, and on not very easy golf courses. The cut this year at the Bob Hope was 13-under par. It really is insane, but there’s a crop of players that are just ready; and they’re young.

“I’m just trying to draw as many positives as I can (like New Orleans) and move on to the next week. We’re getting to the later part of the season and I’m still on the outside looking in, so I’ve got to play some good golf. And you just want to play as good as you can, as often as you can.”

Rickie Fowler has committed to return and defend his title from 2023. Fowler won in a playoff over Colin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin, with a birdie,

after he also birdied the 18th hole to join the playoff. Fowler, Tom Kim and Will Zalatoris have made early commitments to return for the June 25-30 event.

Since 2019, proceeds from the Rocket Mortgage Classic have pumped more than $8.4 million into local charities – with about half that total going to the flagship ‘Changing the Course’ campaign designed to connect Detroit residents with high-speed Internet, digital devices and digital literacy training – all with the intent of helping students connect to school and adults to seek job opportunities, among other advantages.

Kids ages 15 and under get free grounds admission to the PGA Tour event when with a paid adult (up to four kids per adult). Daily grounds tickets start at $65, and passes to hospitality venues are on sale at www.RocketMortgageClassic.com.

A QUINTUPLET OF ACES

course: holes 4, 8, 12 and 14. The most recent came on May 15 on the 8th hole with a 6-iron.

“I feel lucky and grateful; I’m happy about it because I know how rare it is (to get one),” Oda told me. “I feel like it’s luck, but I feel like I get bad luck 90 percent of the time on the course in a normal round, then you get just one shot that makes up for it all year. But the most recent two I feel like I visualized the shot really well. That’s not a secret to getting holes in one, but I think that’s the secret to hit any good golf shot.”

Oda played high school golf at Clarkston, then tried two years at Division III LaGrange College in Georgia, but has since transferred to Michigan State to focus only on studies. His short-term goals are to play golf in local amateur events but otherwise take a break.

When One Ace Isn’t Enough

ByTomLang ByTomLang

Many golfers wait a lifetime to get a hole-inone, and most never do.

Alex Oda got his first at age 6 – the same age as Tiger Wood’s first.

Oda then got another, then another, then another and then another.

What’s more tantalizing than getting five aces by age 21 – is the fact that the last four completed the ‘Oda Slam’ at Oakhurst Country Club in Rochester. He now has a hole-in-one

“I felt like I worked very hard the whole time I was there (down south), felt I had a good work ethic and what it takes to be good at something,” he said. “The experience taught me to work hard, but I didn’t see the results,” despite earning a team award for being the hardest worker.

“Honestly, I need a break from golf,” he said. “I also learned that I probably tried too hard, and put too much effort and thought into it, my coach saw it too. It just wasn’t enjoyable and I need a break just from

TEENAGER GETS ALBATROSS

“I hit a draw, so the ball started right, then went left and it was kind a going toward the pin but it was too hard to see,” he said in an email. “The ground was firm and there was some down wind.

“I didn’t see the ball at all go in, but once I realized it, I was in shock. It helped me shoot a really good 71 but I tripled bogeyed (4 putt) the last hole so that kind a ruined it.”

Spoken like a true competitive golfer.

That 71 was good for medalist in the tournament on April 20 over other JV teams like Detroit Catholic Central, Novi and Grand Blanc, and brought way more attention to his game than he’d like. Dostal asked his coach to place him on the JV’s B team to take away some of the spotlight pressure.

Teenager Earns

Hole-in-One on Par 4

The JV team went 9-0 this spring in dual meets and finished in the top 10 in five of six tournaments.

ByTomLang

ByTomLang

Freshman Lucas Dostal was just aiming for a drive down the middle of the par four 17th fairway.

Just seconds later, he finished the hole at Hudson Mills Metro Park in that one swing of the driver.

An albatross.

The Bloomfield Hills JV player didn’t see from the tee his hole-in-one on the 329-yard hole drop in the cup, so the reaction was delayed, but still refreshing.

“He’s going to be a great golfer,” Coach David Lumsden said. “There’s no part of his game that is lacking. He’s got a great short game. Off the tee he’s amazing. And I’ve watched him make really great recovery shots with his irons. He’s going to be really good; we’re just taking it slow. Don’t want to put all this pressure on him and end up having him quit golf too early.

“Lucas is very mild mannered. He doesn’t talk a lot. It’s very enjoyable to watch him getting into it and getting used to being a good golfer and getting this kind of recognition. He’s not been bragging about anything and he’s just a solid golfer.”

10th Anniversary of the Meijer LPGA Classic

PlayerscommittedincludepastchampionsNellyKorda,Brooke Henderson,LexiThompson,JenniferKupchoandLeonaMcGuire

ByTomLang ByTomLang

Where did the time go?

June 13-16 will be the 10th annual Meijer LPGA Classic near Grand Rapids – a great Father’s Day weekend tradition.

Early commitments not only include World No. 1 Korda, but also World No. 2 Lilia Vu and No. 3 Celine Boutier – in addition to former Meijer champions Leona Maguire (defending), Jennifer Kupcho, Brooke Henderson (twice) and Lexi Thompson.

Fans may or may not recall that when Meijer took a leap of faith to start what has turned into a master class in how to run a professional golf tournament, there was no pro Tour golf in Michigan. The Buick Open had shut down, and the Ford Sr. Players Championship moved on before that.

Since Meijer made that commitment a decade ago, the Great Lakes State has added the PGA

Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic, the LPGA’s Dow Championship, the every-other-year Sr. PGA Championship, two Epson Tour events, and the PGA Champions Tour Ally Challenge. Thank you, Meijer.

The 2016 U.S. Women’s Open champion Brittany Lang was in Grand Rapids in early May at Blythefield Country Club, the host site for the Meijer LPGA Classic – where Lang has played eight times.

“This is just such a special event because you can feel the love and support in this community,” she said. “Golf just seems kind of secondary, which I like as a professional golfer coming here… It’s nice to be part of something bigger than golf because we’re part of helping other people in need, and it’s a special thing if you can do it, and you should in life. Meijer is doing that.

“And look at the field they get here. They don’t pay the girls to show up, they are coming here because of the community … I think the LPGA Tour flourishes here,” Lang added. “The crowds we get

here, they’re amazing. We don’t get those at regular tournaments. This is not a major, but the crowds here are extraordinary.”

The tournament will be held June 13-16 at Blythefield Country Club. For more information on the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, visit meijerlpgaclassic.com.

$2MillionGoal

Lang’s reference to helping others in need is directly targeted at Meijer’s charitable program called Simply Give – which is a donation opportunity that supplies nearly 400 food pantries across the Midwest with Meijer gift cards they can use to stock the pantries with fresh foods like meat, cheeses, fruits and vegetables.

Meijer kicked off the lofty $2 million tournament proceeds goal by donating $500,000 on May 7 at the Media Day event.

Rick Keyes, Meijer President and CEO, noted that the nine previous golf tournaments have generated more than $10 million for Simply Give, an equivalent of 94 million meals by stocking the shelves of food pantries.

“Feeding people is at the heart of what we do at Meijer and the Simply Give program is the focus of our hunger relief efforts,” Keyes said. “Simply Give began in 2008 and it has generated $85 million thanks to the generosity and support of our Meijer customers, team members and food pantry partners who are committed to help feed hungry families. It’s how we know the Meijer LPGA Classic and it’s longstanding, incredible support is making a difference.”

Cathy Cooper, Executive Director of the Meijer LPGA Classic added: “The Meijer Simply Give program creates a promising outlook for our communities in need, and we are proud to host an event where families can not only create memories but also help stock the shelves of our local food pantries.”

In addition to the tournament’s primary contribution, the tournament champion will also take part in Simply Give’s mission, selecting a hunger relief organization of their choosing to receive $25,000. The last three consecutive champions Maguire, Kupcho, and Korda have all selected West Michigan-based Kids’ Food Basket as their organization for the surprise donation.

BrittanyLincicome w/twoJr.ClinicPlayers

Food,Fun,Foodandmore:

The Meijer LPGA Classic has won numerous awards over the years for having the best food options for the fans, and that’s expanding this year.

J. Brewer’s and Frederik’s, which were introduced at the course in 2022 and 2023 respectively, offer foodie fans a premium allyou-can-eat culinary experience curated by Meijer chefs and local restaurants right along the fourth fairway. The elevated experience is named in honor of Blythefield Country Club’s founder, J. Brewer – and Frederik Meijer, cofounder of the Grand Rapids-based retailer. The Frederik’s menu will change daily and feature products exclusive to the retailer’s premium Frederik’s product line.

The J. Brewer’s and Frederik’s hospitality tickets will offer access to:

Frederik’s by Meijer food experience

All-you-can-eat access to well-crafted food and beverage items, featuring local restaurants and breweries

A terrace for live, front-row views of the oncourse action

A vibrant, fun atmosphere with upscale seating areas and televisions playing live updates from the course

The pavilion is open Friday, June 14 through Sunday, June 16. Daily tickets cost $85 each for adults and $10 each for children, ages 5 and under –and includes golf grounds access. It’s the best golf tournament food and all-you-can eat atmosphere I have ever experienced.

GrandTasteConcessions will offer high-quality food for families, with all items costing $4 or less. The menu includes cheeseburgers ($4), hotdogs ($2) and Meijer Purple Cow ice cream ($1) among other items. There will be four locations

throughout the course - at the 10th tee, 16th fairway, 18th tee, and 18th green.

Daily grounds access remains as low as $10 a day.

The free, popular open-air kids’ destination, DiscoveryLand, will be expanded, allowing for additional kid-friendly activities, including art stations provided by ACT (Artists Creating Together) and outdoor lawn games like mini golf, cornhole and fowling. It will feature charater visits from

Universal Studios and Wimee of Wimee’s Words, a Grand Rapids-based TV show on PBS, as well as card making with American Greetings. Complimentary food and beverage samples will also be provided by various tournament partners, and it will showcase live tournament coverage on digital boards.

The FamilyCareAreas will continue to offer an air-conditioned tent featuring lactation and

diaper changing stations. One air-conditioned tent will be located next to Discovery Land and a second air-conditioned location, offering two additional lactation and changing stations, will be available off the 16th fairway.

“There are so many reasons why I love the Meijer tournament,” Lang added. “I would start with Meijer itself. And Simply Give is such a great charity, that’s close to the community’s heart. Blythefield is an amazingly beautiful golf course.

It’s always in great shape. It’s gettable so it’s fun; you can make a lot of birdies.

“The community comes together in a really big way and supports the women (on Tour) whether it’s private housing, or coming out to watch.

“I enjoy Grand Rapids. I like the community and the area. I always enjoy coming back.”

For more information on the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give, visit meijerlpgaclassic.com.

TRAVERSE CITY AREA ATTRACTIONS

Traverse City Region has Tons of Options for Golfers

The Traverse City region has wonderful golf options, but also a slew of unique non-golf options for your free time off the course.

The flashiest of them all is the international fireworks competition that’s the only one in the U.S. and slated for September 6-7 at Turtle Creek Stadium in Traverse City. The show will feature pyrotechnic teams from Australia, the United Kingdom, India, the Philippines, Finland and USA. Fireworks competitions are rare in the U.S., but more common in Europe and other parts of the world. Each team is required to follow specific guidelines that challenge their creativity and artistic ability.

Last year at Traverse City was the first event, and lasted one night; it’s been expanded to two nights in 2024. Tickets for both nights of the show are already on sale at www.TraverseCity.com, where 1,000 seats will be designated as two-night show ticket packages.

The teams are invited to compete if they have

won other competitions from around the world.

They have 15 minutes to stage their performance and are judged on design, synchronization to music, and the overall experience of their show.

Details of the event, and a video that highlights last year’s International Fireworks Festival are available at:

www.traversecity.com/inte rnationalfireworkschampio nship/

The region also features one of the most amazing natural wonders of the world in Sleeping Bear Dunes National Park, about 35 minutes west of downtown Traverse City on the shoreline of Lake Michigan.

The region is well-known for its wine and distillery tours for beverage consumers who want to sample the output of a variety of locally-grown grapes and barley.

Golf is of course also very popular in the Traverse City region – headed by the trio of Grand Traverse Resort (with The Bear, The Wolverine and Spruce Run), A-Ga-Ming (with the Torch and Sundance courses) and Crystal Mountain (featuring Mountain Ridge and Betsie Valley courses). Sundance was voted 2023 Michigan Golf Course of the Year, and Mountain Ridge has for 21 years hosted the Michigan PGA Women’s Open. The Bear was also home to the Michigan Open for more than 35 years. These courses are a must try if you want to play where the state pros play.

Michigander Tom Doak Talks Pinehurst No. 10 Michigander Tom Doak Talks Pinehurst No. 10

ByTomLang

Golf is not played at the speed of light.

Neither is designing and building golf courses.

But to some, the new Pinehurst No. 10 –Michigander Tom Doak’s latest pride and joy –was brought to life from deep within the Pinehurst Sandmines at almost lightning speed – at least by golf course building norms.

As the 124th U.S. Open is about to take place at the famed Pinehurst No. 2 in mid-June, the

noise around the opening of Pinehurst No. 10 isas loud and dramatic in its own right. It’s the first course developed in the Sandmines region –about 4 miles from the No. 2 clubhouse – and the first built anywhere within the Pinehurst brand in nearly three decades.

Doak and I talked for almost an hour in mid-May while overlooking Spruce Run Golf Course at Grand Traverse Resort, not far from his Traverse City home. He said that Pinehurst called him in the spring of 2022 to discuss the potential of No. 10.

“I asked how soon, because I had a couple projects that I thought would be built in 2023 and they’re pushing back into 2024,” Doak told me. “I told them I could do it if we could start at the start of 2023, otherwise you might have to wait for me a while. That motivated them to get everybody together. So, the first few months of 2023, it was the only thing we were working on and I had the whole crew rotating in there. It started ridiculously fast.

“I’ve had people call me and think we can start building in a few months, and it’s never less than a year. You have to get permits and organize everything. Pinehurst had the advantage of being on the ground there for 125 years and knowing everyone at the county level and the state level and everything else. So, I did

a routing plan pretty fast and they just jumped on it with everybody they needed to talk to. And they had a contractor lined up that was kind of in the same boat, with some big renovation projects coming up but there was a good window available. It happened very fast.

“It was almost too fast in a way,” Doak continued. “But my crews always like to work fast, so we made it work out. But at the end, where everybody was splitting off and ready to go, we still had three or four more holes to do. It was up to Angela and me shaping the last three greens,” he said with a chuckle.

Angela is Angela Moser, who has been working with Doak as an independent contractor for 13

Continuesonmextpage>>

years. She grew up playing competitive golf in Germany. Doak prefers working with independent contractors because he can’t promise they’ll always be busy, and he wants them to work for others if they can, to get well-balanced opportunities for growth.

“Angela’s had many years of construction experience,” Doak said. “She’s built greens and bunkers on The Loop and St. Patrick’s in Ireland … actually sitting on machinery and shaping… and she was never afraid of doing that from the time she started working with me.

“I told her, ‘If you’re ever going to make it in this business, you need to not be afraid of that. It will be really hard for a woman to succeed in the business because your typical golf course construction firm is not used to taking orders from women. But you’ll have their respect if they know you can do the same things that you’re asking them to do.’ ”

Doak, now age 63, said the fact she is a woman didn’t really factor into any special design

features that people might assume were inserted. She’s first and foremost a good golfer.

“I think her viewpoint is a little different from mine; every person sees things a little different. But I wouldn’t necessarily attribute any of that to the fact she’s a woman,” Doak said.

“There’salotofhistoryat thisplace,andyoujustwant tohonorit.”ANGELAMOSER

“At Pinehurst, they didn’t know her in the beginning, but they told me they trusted me that she can run the job. But I knew that they knew that the fact that she was involved, that they’d probably want to promote that. And they have, so it’s been great for her. So, a lot of people know her name now that didn’t a year or two ago. Her skills have gotten that much better from running the job.”

Public’sResponse:

I asked Doak what have people said to him or what has he heard about the social media ravings of Pinehurst No. 10.

“We’re still in the honeymoon phase,” he said with a tone of realism. “All new golf courses, the first six months they’re open everyone’s saying, ‘oh, that’s awesome.’ So, it will be a year or two before I really know (how people feel about it).

“But the client is surprised that it’s as strong of a golf course as it is. When they hired me they didn’t say anything plus or minus about tournament play. They’ve obviously got a great course to play tournaments on (Pinehurst No. 2, Donald Ross), and they really weren’t looking to do that again. But they told me recently they just had all the USGA people out for the U.S. Open

media day, and they played No. 10 the day before that, and (USGA folks) were saying they want to host an event there (at No. 10). They’re not sure what yet, but they definitely want to host an event there. It’s a really strong golf course.

“It’s a big piece of property and the routing takes you on a journey, so it covers a lot of ground so it’s fairly long from the back tees. It turned out fairly difficult.”

Doak used the phrase ‘strong golf course’ a few times, so I asked him to define that in his mind.

“Just that there are back tees that are challenging to really low handicap golfers,” he answered. “There’s still plenty of chance to move up and have fun when playing the golf course, and I think maybe they need to encourage people to play a little farther forward there than they are.

“I played there with 30 golf writers the other day and it was a lot for them from the white tees. I pointed out some green tees up there that they’d probably have more fun with.”

When a world-renowned course designer suggests that some golfers should Play it Forward, it’s very sound advice. It’s a suggestion I often take.

“No.10startsoutfairlygentle,thenitstartsgoingintotheold quarryworkswhereitgetsdownrightcrazyforalittlebit.Thenthe coursegetsuponthehillandthere’sabeautiful,sweepingview.All oftheholescominginarechallenging,evenwhenyoumovedown intothegentlerterrain.It’sadramaticgolfcourse,morethanI originallythought.”

TOMDOAK

TheHeatheratBoyneHighlandsHole18

ByGregJohnson

The Michigan Amateur Championship returns in June for the fifth time to The Heather course at The Highlands in Harbor Springs, the famed first golf course in the Boyne Resorts 10-course collection in Michigan.

The Heather, credited with launching the resort golf industry in Northern Michigan and designed by legendary golf course architect Robert Trent Jones Sr., will host the state’s best players for the 113th edition of the championship.

Results of the previous four state championships played at The Heather:

In 1998 Shawn Koch of Howell beat Stephen Polanski of Livonia 2 and 1 in the final match. Koch, who also won the GAM Championship that summer, went on to an award-winning PGA professional teaching career in Georgia. He is currently the director of instruction at The Atlanta Athletic Club.

In 2006 Greg Davies of West Bloomfield beat Ryan Brehm of Mount Pleasant 5 and 4 in the final match. Davies, GAM Senior Champion in 2023, is a member of the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame. Brehm, the 2007 Amateur champion, has played on the PGA Tour for several years and won the Puerto Rico Open in 2022.

In 2011 Willie Mack III of Flint beat defending champion Joey Garber of Petoskey 4 and 3 in the final match. Mack III, the first African-American winner of the Amateur, played on the PGA’s Korn Ferry Tour in 2023, as did Garber, who has also played on the PGA Tour in recent years.

In 2020 Tyler Copp of Ann Arbor beat James Piot of Canton 2 and 1 in the final match. Copp has since turned professional, including finishing fourth in last year’s Michigan Open. Piot, a two-time GAM Champion, went on to win the U.S. Amateur championship in 2021 and in 2022-23 played on the LIV tour.

“It seems like the best players from our tournaments on The Hearther have all gone on to do something more at another level,” said Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions and USGA services for the Golf Association of Michigan. “I think it shows that over the week of a championship with the best players, the Heather proves who has the all-around game.”

Renovated and Ready: Plum Hollow Hosting 108th Michigan Women’s Amateur

ByGregJohnson

Plum Hollow Country Club member and Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) volunteer rules official Barry Babbitt has witnessed what he calls an already great course at his club being enhanced through renovations.

“It seemed to me that our wonderfully improved golf course and the incredible golf played by GAM members could be showcased together,” he said.

The membership at Plum Hollow recognized and shared his vision and the historic Southfield club will host many of the state’s top golfers in the 108th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship in June.

The Plum Hollow course, founded in 1921, is an original C.H. Alison design of the legendary (H.S) Colt & Alison partnership, whose work includes several highly regarded courses around the world.

An added element to this year’s Michigan Women’s Amateur is the winner receiving an exemption into the 2024 U.S. Women’s

Amateur Championship. Michigan is one of the states newly selected by the USGA for winners to be exempted into its national championships. It’s based on the quality of our

fields over three years of the World Amateur Golf Rankings,” said Ken Hartmann, senior director of competitions and USGA services for the GAM. “Our Michigan state champions for women, men, junior girls and junior boys all are part of those exemptions for 2024.”

This is Plum Hollow’s sixth hosting of the Women’s Amateur. It hosted what was then known as the Women’s Michigan Golf Association Championship in 1937, 1942, 1948, 1958 and 1970 when Bonnie Lauer, a Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member who later was a standout LPGA player, was the champion. The championship has been under the direction of the GAM since 2005.

Plum Hollow hosted the top players in the world in the 1947 PGA Championship. Jim Ferrier of Australia beat Michigan Golf Hall of Famer Chick Harbert 2 and 1 in what was then a 36-hole match play final.

In 1957, the Western Open, once regarded as one of the PGA Tour’s major championships, was played at Plum Hollow. Doug Ford won and Sam Snead’s 10 that he carded on No. 4 is part of the club’s lore.

Jam Packed June for Michigan PGA

The Michigan PGA Section has at least four very significant tournaments on tap in the month of June – adding to Michigan’s slate of five pro Tour events in June (PGA Tour, LPGA Tour and Epson Tour) and four major amateur events for the Golf Association of Michigan (GAM).

MichiganOpen:

Starting things off on June 10 for four rounds is the Michigan Open at Oakland University. Hall Financial is the title sponsor. The tournament features Michigan professionals, plus top amateurs from the Great Lakes State.

The Katke Course proved to be a venerable challenge as a first-time host for this championship last summer. Mini-tour pro Joe Juszczyk from Dearborn won the championship in a dogfight with amateur Charles DeLong of DeWitt. In two of the prior five years, amateurs won the event – Jake Kneen in 2018 (and again in 2022 as a pro) and current MSU senior Bradley Smithson in 2021.

The tournament record of 265 was set by Chick Harbert in 1948, and tied by Barrett Kelpin in 2012.

MichiganWomen’sOpen:

Played for 20-plus years at Crystal Mountain on the Mountain Ridge Course, the Women’s Open allows pros from across the country to play for the purse. Dozens of Michigan amateurs also join the fun for a dynamic field.

The defending champion is Valentina Haupt, a mini tour pro who played at Southern Mississippi. Notable past winners include Michiganders Sarah White, Sarah Burnham, Liz Nagel, Suzy Green-Roebuck, Allison Fouch and Elaine Crosby, all of whom played the LPGA Tour. Amateur Anika Dy of Traverse City won in 2019.

Juniors:

The Michigan PGA Girls Junior and Boys Junior will also be contested in June.

The girls play June 20-21 at Washtenaw Golf Club in Ypsilanti, one of the three oldest golf courses in Michigan.

Every Michigan PGA event listed above is free and open to the public. What a treat it is to watch some exceptional golf, and enjoy a nice walk outdoors without the restrictions found at professional Tour events.

The boys are scheduled for June 27-28 at Bedford Valley Golf Course, just north of Battle Creek. Note: the same course often hosts high school state championships of the MHSAA for both boys and girls. The boys play there June 7-8 this time around.

DOW CHAMPIONSHIP

Year Five at the Dow Championship

The newly-named LPGA Dow Championship –formerly the Great Lakes Bay Invitational – will take place the final week of June, after being moved forward on the LPGA Tour schedule from July. A new logo was also released this year.

The Midland Country Club welcomes LPGA Tour golfers for the only team event (playing best ball and alternate shot) on Tour that equally awards Rolex points for the season. The MCC is also welcoming fans for a fun and festive atmosphere for people of all backgrounds and ages.

This is the first time the tournament will have a Sunday finish. In prior years, the final round was on Saturday to accommodate more travel time for players to get to Europe to play in the Evian Championship. The 2024 event was moved forward to help accommodate players going to the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Dow Championship weeklong activities begin Monday June 24, but while the players’ practice rounds are closed to the public that day, from

5:00-9:00 pm is the public party called Rock the Block downtown. Here are highlights of the week’s remaining schedule:

Tuesday,June25:

LPGA golfer practice rounds, all day First Tee Junior Clinic at Currie Golf Course, 9:30-12:00 noon

Wednesday,June26:

Pro-Am tournament, all Dow Business Sustainabi Summit, 8:00-10:45 am

Thursday,June27:

Opening ceremonies, 6:30 a.m.

PGA HOPE 25th reunion golf outing, Currie, 9:30 am

All Hospitality Venues Open, 10:00 am – end of play (repeats same through Sunday) Lemonade Stand by Boys and Girls Club, 12:003:00 (repeats same through Sunday)

Live TV coverage, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Friday,June28:

Live TV coverage, 10:00 am – 1:00 pm

Saturday,June29

Yoga on the Green, 17th hole, 8:00 am Special Olympics 3-hole Challenge, Holes 16-18, 9:30 am

Third round of play starts, 11:25 am Live TV coverage, 4:00-7:00 pm

Sunday,June30

Final round of play begins, 7:39 am

Live TV coverage, 1:00-3:00 pm

This course almost never saw 90 years. The property was nearly sold off last decade to become a new corn field, until 20 business owners in Three Rivers combined to buy the club and revive it.

The Junior College Team that Could – Then Couldn’t

ByTomLang

With a nod to the traditional children’s book “TheLittleEnginethatCould” – overcoming the struggles of that small train tale of overcoming all odds, could be similar to what has transpired with Montcalm Community College’s men’s golf team this past school year.

Montcalm, located north of Greenville, added men’s golf this school year and the team had unconventional success for a first-year program. In May, the Centurions tied for 1st at the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Regional with Grand Rapids Community College – which has won the last 14 consecutive league titles.

However, as a new firstyear program, Montcalm was left on the outside looking in. Due to NJCAA rules, there was no reason for a playoff with GRCC to conclude a Regional winner for advancing to Nationals. First-year programs are not allowed to participate on the national stage.

Michigan teams like Grand Rapids, Muskegon, Oakland, Schoolcraft, Jackson and Mott all compete in men’s golf. The Montcalm team had three first-place finishes and five runners-up in its first season.

“Just watching these kids grow up and how excited they were, I think gracious is a good descriptor,” rookie college head coach Doug Harkema said about the team’s reaction to not being recognized for tying for first place at the post-event ceremonies. “The other thing is, we knew we couldn’t go (to nationals) so what is there to play for? And they did it anyway. It’s pretty cool.”

Harkema is the former golf coach at Holt High School. As he looked for something to do in retirement from teaching, a Facebook ad for the Montcalm job kept popping up. He continued to ignore the job posting, until he couldn’t any

MontcalmCommunityCollegeGolfTeam

longer. “I guess God had a different plan for me,” he said.

Montcalm athletic director Hunter Redman confirmed that first-year teams are on probation to start out and cannot win awards nor advance to Nationals.

“The rule was put into place to make sure that programs are sustainable, and that the data showed that a lot of first-year programs, some schools didn’t get audits correctly, eligibility compliance, so the rule is mostly a safeguard to make sure that the schools are doing everything appropriately, but that they’re also not trying to start something too quickly. I completely understand that.

“For the most part I think we are the exception to the rule,” he added about producing such a successful team in Year One.

All-AmericansRecognized

Montcalm was 11 shots back to start the Regional final round, but the team of Ethan Johnson (age 21, Holt High), brother Zach Johnson (18, Holt), Jerald Brownell (18, Cedar Springs), Ryan Cingenpeel (24, East Lansing) and Lucas Hirkaway (18, Central Montcalm) came back to tie the mighty Grand Rapids program.

“The one thing I’ve always tried to do, with my basketball teams and all, is to try creating an atmosphere where kids will play for each other,” Harkema said. “If they’re only playing for themselves, it’s easy to quit on yourself. It’s harder to quit on others. And by the end of it, it really felt a lot like a family. It was a wonderful experience, the first year of competition. To come from 11 strokes back on the last day, and tie it was spectacular.

“We’ve got some good players that really work hard. It’s been a blast.”

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ChunbecamethethirdWolverine womangolferoveralltoearnAllAmerica.ChunwonhersecondBig TenChampionshipthisspring(2022, ’24).Shealsowasrunnerupinthe 2022USWomen’sAmateur.

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ZachJohnson

International Arrivals

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ByTomLang ByTomLang

Boyne Golf will soon be hosting more than 300 repersentatives of the International Association of Golf Tour Operators (IAGTO) in mid-June, as part of a Pure Michigan and America’s Summer Golf Capital effort to bring international attention to northen Michigan’s great golfing oportunities. The area tourism bureaus in Gaylord, Traverse City, and Petoskey, and the Cherry Capital Airport are also collaborating partners.

“We are delighted to be (bringing) the 15th North America Golf Tourism Convention (NAC) to Michigan in 2024. This will be a great opportunity to showcase the golf destinations of this Great Lakes state to leading golf travel operators from more than 20 countries,” said Peter Walton, Chief Executive, IAGTO, adding that it’s the first time they will visit the Great Lakes region.

primarily from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Latin America and the Caribbean but also from other parts of the world. Increasing golf exposure to Michigan in general and northern Michigan in particular can only add to the state’s travel industry bottom line, of which golf was over a $1 billion generator to tourism in 2023.

Ken Griffin is Boyne Golf’s director of golf sales and marketing. He told me that in the last 10 years, Boyne has not lost Michigan golfers in numbers, but have gained more national and international golfers visiting northern Michigan. The three resorts of Boyne Mountain, Boyne Highlands and Bay Harbor provides 120 lodging choices, with 3,000 beds.

Ten years ago, a small handful of flights came into the Traverse City airport. Now there are 20 different cities flying in direct.

“We’re all friendly competition, we want the waters to rise for everybody,” Griffin said about the regional partnerships. “We hope we do a great job and then get our share, or maybe even a little more… but if the water doesn’t rise, you’re fighting for pieces, so let’s just let everybody know from all over the U.S. and even internationally how great the golf is here in northern Michigan, how great the weather is, how long the day is and how much fun you can have coming to northern Michigan to play golf.”

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The number 13 is not always unlucky.

In this case, the Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass will compete for its 13th year, set to take place June 21-23 at the Island Resort & Casino outside of Escanaba.

The highly-anticipated event has solidified its reputation as one of the premier professional golf tournaments in the upper Midwest. As part of the Epson Tour – known as the “Road

to the LPGA” – the tournament serves as a pivotalstage for players aspiring to join the ranks of the LPGA Tour, with thrilling competition and showcasing the talent of top female golfers. These athletes will be competing for prize money totaling $225,000 at the event.

“It’s the perfect opportunity to see upand-coming pro golfers with the potential to be on the LPGA tour in the next few years,” said Tony Mancilla, General Manager of Island Resort & Casino and Tournament Director. “Over the past decade, the Epson Tour has grown substantially, and we are excited to be a part of it. The

athletes’ abilities have improved and today the tour offers bigger purses, not to mention the higher quality venues participating in the tour.”

The winner of the Island Resort Championship at Sweetgrass will take home a trophy, a tribal honor quilt handmade by an elder of the Hannahville Indian Community, and a check for $33,750. In 2023, the winner was Tsai Ching Tseng (Tainan City, Chinese Taipei). The

Island Resort Championship was her first career win, in the same year she turned professional. Tseng hopes to defend her title this year but knows how she prepares is key.

Sweetgrass was named the 2022 National Golf Course of the Year by the National Golf Course Owners Association, for its excellent playability, management, contributions to the developing the game and support of local communities.

“Definitely mentally. I think because I know there's great players out here, so to be able to beat them just means a lot,” said Tseng in a news release. “I remember so many people were out there and cheering for us. I can’t wait to be back.”

The Epson Tour is the Official Qualifying Tour of the LPGA, where players earn LPGA Tour Membership through the Epson Tour's Race for the Card. Beginning in 2024, 15 LPGA cards will be distributed to top points earners over the 20-event season. Each regular season event offers the winner 500 points, and the Epson Tour Championship in Indian Wells, CA offers 650 points as the season finale.

Mancilla noted that most of the Island Resort Championship winners have gone on to earn their LPGA card.

Tickets to the June tournament are $10 for adults and free for 17 and under with an adult. Food and beverages are available on the course, and food costs just $3. Tickets are onsale now at local non-profits, with proceeds going to the charities that sell them. A list of participating organizations can be found online at www.IslandResortGolf.com

EpsonTourAlsoPlayingin BattleCreek

Prior to the Epson Tour event at Sweetgrass, the 11th annual Firekeepers Casino Hotel Championship will be played June 7-9, at the Battle Creek Country Club. Players will be going for a total purse of $200,000 in the 54-hole event.

Fan entrance is free with a requested donation to South Michigan Food Bank, or fans can bring a small bag of non-perishable food items and drop it at Volunteer Registration. The South Michigan Food Bank feeds underserved people from 8 counties.

There will be a hospitality tent and Firekeepers Food truck available all day long to players and fans.

The cut will be at 60 top scores and ties, for the final round Sunday, June 9. The defending champ is Siyun Liu.

More information can be found at https://firekeeperscasino.com/things-todo/fkchc

DanielaIocabelli

10th

GAM Net Chapman Championship

ByGregJohnson

Jared Aldrich of Ada and Derek Blodgett of Rockford, a pair of 43-year-old salesmen, survived a three-hole aggregate net score playoff and won the 10th GAM Net Chapman Championship at Gull Lake View’s Stoatin Brae Course.

“Honestly, it was an all-around ham-and-egg win,” Aldrich said. “Derek’s short game was on par with his chipping, and I was putting well, and if I didn’t drive it well, he did. It was a true ham-and-egg win for us.”

Aldrich and Blodgett shot a 5-under 66 in regulation in the unique format, as did Justin Scollin of Royal Oak and Matt White of Whitmore Lake setting up the playoff, which was also played with net scoring.

The team of Jonathan Joseph of Wyoming and Justin Knoper of Grandville and the duo of Kevin Demorest and Robert Tuson of Clarkston tied for third after net rounds of 68.

A field of 42 teams played 18 holes of net stroke play in the format that calls for each player on the team to hit tee shots and then play the teammate or partner’s ball for the second shot. After the second shot the partners then select the ball with which they wish to score and play that ball alternately to complete the hole.

Tecumseh’s Jerred Barley Wins Michigan Publinx Medal Play Championship

Jerred Barley, a 36-year-old former professional golfer from Tecumseh, pulled away from the field to win the Michigan Publinx Golf Association Medal Play Championship at Pheasant Run Golf Club.

A pair of 3-under nine-hole trips around the West and South nines keyed the 27hole final day and helped him secure an 8-under 208 total for the 54-hole championship.

Ronnie Aniel III of Shelby Township, a 21-year-old Michigan State student who hopes to be a walk-on next year for the Spartans’ golf team, was second at 5under 211, and former Wayne State University golfer Nicholas Winiarski of Pontiac was third at 212.

A Senior Michigan Publinx Medal Play champion was also crowned as Razmig Boghikian of Novi shot 1-over 217 to top Leo Daigle of Wixom by one shot. It was Boghikian’s second major senior Publinx title. He also has won the MPGA Match Play.

BoyneHillsHole13

FOUR! – A Northern Michigan Swing

ByJackEbling ByJackEbling

It’s my own fault.

Born and raised in ‘The Mitten’ and a proud Michigander for 72 ½ years, there was really no excuse. I love the game of golf, even when it doesn't like me. And with friends and associates like Tom Lang, ‘Mr. MIgolfjournal,’ I don't know what I was thinking.

Obviously, I wasn't.

Northern Michigan's glorious golf scene, on a par with any resort collection on the planet, deserved much more love than I gave it. It should have been a regular spring or summer stop for me over the past six decades.

All I could do was thank the golf gods and accept a travel and tourism mulligan – a fourday swing that, much like my best drive, wasn't long enough.

The idea began as an offshoot of "The Long Drive," a spring and summer segment of my weekday afternoon radio show, "The Drive with Jack," on the Spotlight Media Network.

Like most good things in that half-hour segment we do each week, the idea was Tom's. At first I thought, ‘That might be fun. . . Too bad it'll never happen.’ But as I should've known, if you give Tom a challenge, sit back and watch what happens! This wasn't the first time and won't be the last.

Before long, Tom had secured mid-May commitments and sponsorships from Boyne Golf, Shanty Creek Golf Resort and Traverse City Tourism. That brought four remote broadcasts and great golf opportunities at the Arthur Hills Course at Boyne, Cedar River at Shanty, Sundance at A-Ga-Ming and Betsie Valley at Crystal Mountain.

Looking for a third player, a backup driver and a fill-in producer, we were joined by golf historian and Princeton letterman Burton Smith, a Michigan transportation human computer.

Together, we hit some memorable shots and many more that reminded us why we'd all had day jobs. Tom, a.k.a. ‘Captain Hybrid,’ played with a smoother tempo than I'd seen –between bathroom breaks. Burton, a loquacious lefty, didn't bring his ‘A’ game with him but did talk incessantly. He was the only player that Lee Trevino would've told to stop yapping. And I hit a few good drives and some lucky putts, about all I had a right to expect between exclamations of "Wow! Look at that!"

The course records were all safe. But we had four days of big fun and enough laughs to last the whole year. And isn't that what golf is all about?

A Monday night ride from Lansing to the Petoskey area wouldn't have taken more than three hours if we hadn't stopped to eat at The Emerald in St. John's. It turns out "The Long Drive" was a show segment, not a trip description.

Tuesday morning, we began at the Hills Course, a pristine jewel in "Michigan's Magnificent 10." I felt as if I'd stumbled into the filming of a Pure Michigan ad.

If there's a complex with more variety of layouts than Boyne's 180 holes, I'd really like to see it –Pinehurst and Brandon Dunes included. Those 10 Boyne courses will soon welcome an 11th option, the Doon Brae short course, plus a new Himalayan-style putting challenge.

The Hills' 13th hole was unforgettable. A 350foot foot drop from tee-to-green was more than picturesque. It was also a great way to get the day's steps in. But who's counting?

If you follow the Hills cart paths and never stop to hit a shot, it takes 45 minutes to get back to the clubhouse. And if a shoulder or knee injury keeps you from making birdies,

you can pick your spots. The course design and pace of play allow that.

Of course, we played a lot of more forward tees, as our ages and skill sets suggested we should. But that was another plus at every course we visited. Multiple teeing areas made the challenge as tough as you wanted it to be, from confidence-building to masochistic.

Wednesday was Cedar River day. And if designer Tom Weiskopf didn't know we were coming, he gave us a track we could all appreciate. Elevation, undulations, woods, water and choices – even when some balls had minds of their own.

Hole No. 5 is as hard a par-4 as I ever need to see, thank you very much. And the 13th, a pick-your-poison, two-way approach to the

green, leaves you thinking, "I'll par that the next time!"

Blessed with nearby Lake Bellaire, Shanty's 90 holes offer something for everyone. “The Phenomenal 5” – distinctly different layouts in a five-mile radius, are something every player should see. Based on the accommodations we had, it's definitely land for all seasons.

Thursday's test was Sundance at A-Ga-Ming, the 2023 Michigan Golf Course of the Year. The Jerry Matthews design, 18 of the 72 holes, featured lots of dogleg-left par-4s and plenty of chances for shareable moments. Memorable and playable, Sundance is a festival of fun.

With time to explore between golf and the 2hour show, we stopped at historic Elk Rapids Golf Club, about to celebrate its 100th

birthday. The walkable, nine-hole Donald Ross gem is the longest continuously operating business in the village and an unsung treasure.

That left Thursday night for a great dinner at Bradley's at Interlochen Golf Course and a terrific stay at Crystal Mt., which felt like family from the time we arrived. I'd like to come back with four friends. We could all stay in the unit I had to myself.

Our last round of the week was at Crystal's Betsie Valley course, a perfect place to end the tour. A lot of trees had been removed, reducing the stress level even further – and it was low from the moment we got there.

I'm sure near-perfect weather and mid-season conditions helped. But so did Tom's detailed preparation and every stop's warm hospitality.

Special thanks to Ken Griffin at Boyne, Lindsey Southwell at Shanty, Mike Kent of the Traverse City CVB and Brittney Primeau at Crystal. I'll return for a round with Brittney when her son is born and I think I can compete with her.

My dad always used to say, "Kid, when are you going to get a real job?" I heard that from my first day I was a sportswriter to the week he died when I was on a different road trip. If he'd been with us on this tour, I never would've heard the end of it.

I know he would've said, "You'd never played these courses before? . . . Not one of them? . . . Where Nicklaus and Palmer did the layouts? . . . Kid, you ' re crazy!"

Can't argue with that. But as another Arnold famously said, "I'll be back!"

Golf in Michigan Provides $6.1 Billion Impact, Study Reveals

The Michigan golf industry’s total economic impact is $6.1 billion, yes billion, in part because the state is home to 859 courses, including the most public golf courses in the nation, stands as the top winter-interrupted golf tourism destination in the country and provides 61,000 jobs according to a recently completed study by the National Golf Foundation (NGF).

Among the NGF study’s notable findings:

The NGF said outside of the coastal, warm weather states of Florida and California, it can be argued that no U.S. state has a more substantial footprint in the world of recreational golf. Michigan is 10th in the U.S. in size and 11th in population but ranks third in the total number of golf courses.

More than 1.85 million golfers travel to Michigan for golf and spend more than $1 billion annually with non-residents playing about three of every 10 rounds in the state each year.

Only Florida, California and Texas with golf facilities open the year around have a higher volume of annual rounds played than Michigan, which had approximately 16.42 million rounds played in 2023. Golf facilities in Michigan had a charitable impact of $104.3 million in 2023 by hosting an estimated 4,880 dedicated charity events with 467,400 participants.

Coaching Legend Bruce Cunningham Retires

Eastern Michigan University Head Men's Golf Coach Bruce Cunningham announced his retirement, May 24, marking his 30th year leading the EMU men ' s golf team.

"It has been a privilege every day to coach and mentor our student-athletes," said Cunningham. "With the addition of the GameAbove Golf Performance Center, everything is in place to pass the baton and enable the next coach and future teams to train and practice like champions.”

Cunningham's leadership propelled EMU to clinching the MAC title in 2007, 2008, and 2019, with numerous top-three finishes throughout his tenure, including MAC Coach of the Year three times.

Earlier this year, Eastern Michigan opened the GameAbove Golf Performance Center at Eagle Crest Golf Course. The building is dedicated in honor of Cunningham and marked the culmination of a project that can redefine the landscape of collegiate golf training at EMU.