An annual custom around the digital cubicles of TheAPosition is my take on the Top 10 Michigan Golf Stories of the Year. Putting aside Wordle for a moment, here’s my list compiled since the start of the year:
Tom Weiskopf’s Forest Dunes is one of nine public and resort courses in Michigan in Golf Digest’s Top 100 list.
In February, Golf Digest ranks Michigan second behind California in its list of the best states for public golf. Nine public and resort courses in the state are in the magazine’s Top 100 list, helping to boost Michigan’s overall ranking behind Wisconsin.
In April, most of Michigan pulls for Mt. Pleasant native Ryan Brehm and his partner Mark Hubbard as they narrowly missed winning the Zurich Classic, a PGA Tour team event, in New Orleans. They wind up in third place, a shot out of the playoff won by Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowery.
In June, Lilia Vu wins the 10th Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give at Blythefield CC. In a riveting playoff, Vu bests fan favorite Lexi Thompson, who had announced her LPGA retirement earlier, and Grace Kim, the third-round leader with a five-shot lead.
At Midland CC in June, Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul and the People’s Republic of China’s Ruoning Yin win the Dow Championship by a single shot over Ally Ewing and Jennifer Kupcho.
A former winner at Detroit GC, Australia’s Cam Davis in June is victorious again at the Rocket Mortgage Classic when Akshay Bhatia, who hadn’t missed a putt inside six feet all week, pulls his par-save on the 72nd hole, missing a playoff with Davis. Davis came into the week under the radar without a top-10 in 16 tournaments.
At the 2024 U.S Junior Amateur Championship at Oakland Hills CC in July, Nebraska’s unheralded Trevor Gutschewski claims the world’s top junior event with his 4-and-3 win over Tyler Watts. (Tiger Woods is at OHCC and follows his son Charlie as he fails to qualify for match play.)
For only the 11th time in Golf Association of Michigan (GAM) history, 19-year-old McCoy Biagioli wins the Michigan Amateur and the GAM Championship in the same season. The White Lake native and Ferris State player won the Amateur at Boyne Highlands in match play and the GAM at Barton Hills in medal play.
Amateur Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll and professional Scott Hebert extend and set records respectively when Stacy wins the GAM Women’s Senior Championship (Stroke play), her 19th GAM individual title, and Scott wins the Michigan PGA Match Play, his record-breaking 18th Michigan PGA major championship.
At September’s Folds of Honor Collegiate at American Dunes in Grand Haven, the University of Arizona women and the University of Alabama men capture team victories in the televised event on Golf Channel. Individual honors go to Florida State junior Mirabel Ting for women and Alabama junior Dominic Clemons for men.
CC of Lansing’s Director of Golf John Lindert ends his two-year term in November as the 43rd President of the PGA of America, one of the largest sports organizations in the world with 31,000 PGA golf professionals as members. (In April, on the Friday before the Masters, Prez Lindert plays Augusta National’s famed par-three nine and shoots a 4-under 23 with five birdies.)
photo courtesy of Forest Dunes
