Eagle Eye Golf Club Hosting 39th Michigan Junior State Amateur

Award-Winning Eagle Eye Golf Club Hosting 39th Michigan Junior State Amateur

BATH – Eagle Eye Golf Club is set to host another significant state championship Monday through Thursday.

The 39th Michigan Junior State Amateur presented by Pepsi will feature 84 top junior boy golfers, some of whom played in the 2016 Michigan Amateur Championship also hosted by Eagle Eye.

Chris Lutzke, a protégé of Pete Dye, designed Eagle Eye, which includes a popular replica of the famous Dye-designed island hole 17th at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Vedra, Fla.

Eagle Eye, founded in 2003, plays to a maximum yardage of just over 7,300 yards, and has developed some significant tournament history quickly by hosting multiple Michigan PGA Championships, U.S. Open qualifiers and multiple GAM championships.

This year Golf Advisor raters ranked Eagle Eye the No. 1 public course in Michigan and No. 5 public course in the nation in 2016. The facility, owned by Darryl Kesler, has won numerous awards since 2003, including being ranked by Golf Digest among Michigan’s top courses and ranked among the best public courses in the nation by Golf World subscribers in 2009.

The course is sure to test the field of boys in the field who are age 18-and-under and have not yet attended college. The final 84 were determined by sectional qualifying and exemptions. They will play 36 holes of stroke play Monday to determine a medalist and top seed to lead the low scoring 32 golfers into the match play bracket.

First-round or round of 32 matches are Tuesday with second round and quarterfinals on Wednesday and semifinal matches and the championship match on Thursday.

Defending champion Ben Smith of Novi and last year’s medalist and top seed Tony Fuentes of Lansing return to head the field that will also include 2016 semifinalists Zach Rosendale of St. Johns and Bradley Smithson of Grand Rapids.

The list of champions in the history of the tournament is impressive and includes PGA Tour member Ryan Brehm, Joey Garber, Michael Harris and Jeff Roth.

Last year Smith, who will attend Georgia Tech in the fall, made a two-putt par to win the 18th hole and slip past Devin Deogun of Orchard Lake 1-up in the final match of the 38th Michigan Junior State Amateur at Point O’ Woods Golf & Country Club in Benton Harbor.

Eagle Eye’s staff is headed by General Manager Alex Coss, PGA Golf Professional Eric Fink, Superintendent Steve Fiorillo and Golf Services Manager Terry Kildea. Learn more about Eagle Eye at hawkhollow.com.

More information on the championship, including daily results, can be found at gam.org under the championships tab.

ABOUT THE GAM: Founded in 1919, the Golf Association of Michigan is the governing body for amateur golf in the state. As a not-for-profit organization, the GAM’s purpose is to promote, preserve and serve the game of golf. The GAM, served by over 250 dedicated volunteers, provides membership to more than 55,000 golfers and more than 470 Michigan golf courses, conducts over 30 amateur championships, oversees 18 USGA qualifying events, administers the GAM/USGA Handicap System and measures and rates almost 70 courses a year for the USGA. Learn more at gam.org.