GAM Mid-Amateur At Boyne Highlands This Week

HARBOR SPRINGS – The 33rd Golf Association of Michigan’s Mid-Amateur Championship will be held Thursday and Friday at Boyne Highlands Resort’s premier Heather and Moor golf courses

The field of 180 is comprised of Michigan male amateur golfers over age 25. The field is split in half this year to take on the Heather and Moor courses for the 36-holes and two days of stroke play competition, and an overall Mid-Am winner and winners in three other age categories will be determined (Mid-Amateur age 25-and-over, Mid-Seniors 45-and-over, Seniors 55-and-over and Super Seniors 65-and-over).

Tom Werkmeister of Kentwood, who has won an unprecedented six Mid-Am titles in the last seven years, will defend his 2014 championship. He has won the last two, and won four consecutive from 2008 to 2011.

Other past champions in the field include Anthony Sorentino of Rochester (2006) and Kevin VandenBerg of Kalamazoo (2000). Two-time champion Greg Davies of West Bloomfield (2003, ’05) is playing as a Mid-Senior, and two-time champion Greg Reynolds of Grand Blanc (1983, ’94), is competing as a Super-Senior.

Boyne Highlands is hosting the event for the 14th consecutive year and 18th time in the history of the event. The Highlands, also home to the Country Club of Boyne, features four courses that are part of 11 golf courses and 171 holes of golf that can be played at three Boyne Resorts in the northern section of Michigan’s Lower Peninsula.

Boyne Highlands, the No. 1 choice in the “2015 Top Ten Favorite U.S. Golf Resorts for Value” by GOLF.com, has long featured The Heather, a Robert Trent Jones course that has been listed by Golf Digest among America’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses.

The Heather was Boyne’s first golf course, and Jones created a classic that features wide tree-lined fairways, sculpted bunkers and challenging water hazards. The Mid-Am field is very familiar with The Heather. It hosted the 100th Michigan Amateur in 2011.

The Moor was the second course built at Boyne Highlands and challenges golfers with numerous doglegs and water hazards. It, too, has a championship pedigree as host of past Mid-Amateurs, the AJGA’s annual visit, the Kircher Cup and Harbor Cup tournaments.

Nick Shaw and Jeremy Neer are the superintendents at Boyne Highlands. Josh Richter and David Trudell are the course golf professionals. Mike Chumbler is the director of golf.