I’ve been doing this list for over a decade and I see no reason to stop now. It’s not in the league of TIME’s Person of the Year (‘TaylorMade’ Swift) but a few of my relatives like it. So, here are my Top 10 Michigan Golf Stories of 2023:
Kimberly Dinh
Midland’s Kimberly Dinh joined an elite group of Michiganders by winning the U.S. Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship in September. The 31-year-old Dinh beat past champion Kelsey Chugg from Salt Lake City in the finals, 2-up. Three down at one point, Dinh won 6 out of the last 7 holes! Dinh joins only seven other Michiganders to have won a USGA National title.
Ricky Fowler won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July, defeating Collin Morikawa and Adam Hadwin on the first playoff hole at Detroit Golf Club to secure his sixth PGA TOUR title, the first since the 2019 WM Phoenix Open. One of the most popular wins of the year. Orange is back!
Irish eyes were smiling at Blythefield CC in June when Ireland’s Leona Maguire shot a final-round 64 to claim the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. Maguire became the 11th different winner through 13 events on the LPGA Tour. In September, she earned 3 points in the Solheim Cup for the winning European team.
Vijay Singh, 60, won his fifth PGA TOUR Champions title and his first since 2018 in August at The Ally Challenge at Warwick Hills in Grand Blanc. Singh parred the 18th while leader Paul Goydos triple bogied the 17th giving him the title by a shot over Jeff Maggert.
August Meekhof
Eastmanville’s August Meekhof, a Michigan State University standout, became only the 10th golfer in 102 years to capture the Michigan Amateur and the GAM Championship in the same season. He plans to turn pro sometime in 2024.
The Michigan Golf Hall of Fame inducted three worthy individuals at its ceremony in October: professional golfer Doug LaBelle; amateur golfer, coach and volunteer Jean Murray and the late Jerry Faubel, long-time Saginaw CC’s superintendent and past President of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.
The team of Cheyenne Knight and Elizabeth Szoko won the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational in June at Midland CC. A year after finishing fourth, the duo battled through a high-pressure weather system, which delayed final-round play for nearly two hours, to take home the title.
Grosse Pointe Park’s Lyla Hampton, Ann Arbor’s Robert Melendez and Webberville’s Paige Radeback all competed at the National Finals of the Drive, Chip & Putt Championship at Augusta National GC in April. It’s a worthy achievement to survive local and regional qualifying among thousands of entrants and to be part of an elite field of 80 juniors.
Investor Rod Trump (l) and Tom Doak at High Pointe GC
Tom Doak’s inaugural design at High Pointe in Traverse City, which was closed and turned into a hops farm in 2008, is undergoing a $24 million reincarnation with nine new holes—thanks to investor Rod Trump, no relation to the more famous surname. The grand opening is set for sometime in 2025 although a few holes may be playable in 2024.
American Dunes hosted its second Folds of Honor in September but this year it was nationally televised on Golf Channel. In a riveting finish, Notre Dame won the team title by one shot over Michigan State University when three of the Spartans failed to birdie the reachable par-five 18th.
Honorable mentions: Michigan’s Jim Briegel shot an even-par round of 72 this past year which may not seem like a notable feat. But then consider the fact that Briegel was 96! That’s another reason why this gentleman is in the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame; Mt. Pleasant native Ryan Brehm maintained his PGA Tour card through 2024; Canton’s James Piot competed on the LIV Tour in 2023 but was “relegated” (dropped) and then failed to regain his LV status via its December Q school for 2024; In October, Grand Rapids native Brett White made his first 36-hole cut on the PGA Tour and after shooting a final round 3-under par 69 finished in a tie for 13th in the Sanderson Farms Championship at CC of Jackson in Jackson, Miss. A former Michigan Open champion, White earned $160,583; The Golf Association of Michigan attained its highest-ever membership, topping 90,000 members in 2023 (Disclosure: I’m a member and Board member of the GAM,)
Images courtesy of the USGA, the Golf Association of Michigan, and High Pointe GC/Beth Price
