Daigle, Schlichter Win GAM Senior Tournament of Champions

Leo Daigle of Wixom, Lori Schlicher of Lewiston Win GAM Senior Tournament of Champions Titles

  CLARKSTON –   Leo Daigle of Wixom (above left) and Lori Schlicher of Lewiston closed out the golf season with wins in the GAM Senior Tournament of Champions presented by BOYNE Golf at Oakhurst Golf & Country Club Monday.

  Daigle, the Michigan Publinx Senior Match Play champion earlier this summer and a recent runner-up in the GAM Senior Championship, shot a 1-under 71 to edge a tightly packed top of the leaderboard in the men’s field.

   “It was a battle,” he said. “It helped that I’ve played here in the past quite a few times, so I knew what to expect. We had the tees up, so it was a little different course than I was used to, but the greens are what I knew well, and I know you have to be in the right spots. That saved me a few strokes today for sure.”

   Schlicher, a Garland Lodge & Golf Resort member and the recent Michigan Women’s Senior Amateur champion for the second consecutive year, shot a 74 to pull away and top the senior women’s field.

  “I had kind of a rough start on the greens with a few three-putts, and then I kind of got it going,” she said. “I did have three birdies once I got used to the greens, which helped a lot.”

  Daigle held off Mike Ignasiak of Saline and Greg Zeller of Jackson, both Michigan Publinx Golf Association members, who tied for second with 72s. Ignasiak won a scorecard playoff for the runner-up trophy.

   Three golfers checked in with 73s, just two shots back, including Jim Lewis of Meadowbrook Country Club in Northville, Ed Pagac of Metamora Golf & Country Club and Mike LaCroix of Flushing Valley Golf & Country Club.

  Schlicher, meanwhile, pulled away to win by six shots among the women.

  Barb Schmid of Egypt Valley Country Club in Grand Rapids shot 80 to finish second in the women’s competition, and Colleen Degaynor of Oakland Hills Country Club in Bloomfield Hills shot 82 for third.

  Donna Benford of Spring Meadows Country Club in Linden and Shelly Weiss of Southfield, a Michigan Women’s Golf Association member, each shot 83 to round out the top five.

   Daigle, in the hunt for GAM Senior Men’s Player of the Year, said he played well this summer and is not taking it for granted.

  “It’s nice, and you know, I don’t have many years left as far as competition,” he said. “And this year I kind of made a deal with God that if I played a little more golf, I would do a little more ministering. You know, I’m a witness. I like to preach. I like to share the good news in the Bible, and I’ve had a lot of opportunities to do that this year, and I believe my golf game has been blessed because of it.”

  Schlicher, who is also in the hunt for Player of the Year honors among senior women, said she had a fun playing group and that she likes the golf course.

  “I still feel like I can’t bring my driver out and just swing away because there is just a lot of placement of shots, but there’s not a lot of courses where you can swing away,” she said. “At 16 I made a birdie putt, then I birdied 18, so I had a little run and got it going on the back (nine).”

  She missed last year’s Tournament of Champions.

  “It was the same time as another tournament I was playing in, so I’m glad to be here,” she said. “It’s nice to play well and play with fun people.”

RESULTS: GAM.org or Golf Genius