HOME AGAIN: 2021 Michigan PGA Women’s Open Starts Monday at Crystal Mountain Resort

HOME AGAIN: Michigan PGA Women’s Open Starts Monday at Crystal Mountain Resort

  THOMPSONVILLE – Crystal Mountain Resort has become the home of the Michigan PGA Women’s Open Championship.

  “I thought it had always been here,” quipped Anika Dy, the University of Michigan golfer from Traverse City who won the championship at age 17 in 2019.

  The championship, open to an international field and including Michigan’s top professional and amateur players including Dy, has been at Crystal Mountain for all 19 years of the former Crystal Mountain cart attendant’s life.

  The 28th Michigan PGA Women’s Open starts Monday at Crystal Mountain, which, of course, is hosting for the 19th time.

  This year’s field of 107 golfers will play 54 holes of stroke play through Wednesday on the Mountain Ridge course to determine a champion, and the professionals in the field will compete for a share of the estimated $40,000 purse. The Michigan Section PGA administers the championship and will cut the field to the low 70 scorers and ties after Tuesday’s second round.

  “After a limited field in 2020 due to COVID it is great to be back to a form of normal and we have one of our largest fields ever this year with 107 players from all over the country,” said Justin Phillips, the Michigan PGA’s tournament director.

  “This is the 19th consecutive year at Crystal Mountain Resort. It is a special place and through their commitment to putting on such a great event every year they have certainly solidified their role as the home of one of the best women’s state opens in the country.”

   Spectators are welcome and there is no admission charge.

  Last year’s champion Sarah Burnham, the former Michigan State star, and Liz Nagel, another former MSU star and the 2018 champion, are on the LPGA Tour this year and will not be in the field.

  Sarah White of Grand Rapids, a winner last year in her LPGA Symetra Tour debut, is coming home to compete in the championship.

  Other Michigan pros playing include the Shipley sisters from Hastings, Gabrielle and Sarah,  Elayna Bowser, a former Michigan Amateur champion (2019), and veteran LPGA player and Michigan Golf Hall of Fame member Sue Ertl.

  Other notables include University of Michigan golfer Mikaela Schulz of West Bloomfield, who was runner-up in the recent Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship, former Grand Valley State University standout Katie Chipman of Canton, Anika Dy’s sister Anci, who is headed to the University of Indianapolis in the fall and Julia Stevenson of Highland, last year’s GAM Women’s Champion.

  Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll, the head women’s golf coach at Michigan State, and the recent winner of the GAM Women’s Mid-Amateur Championship for an unprecedented 11th time, is in the field as usual heading the group of Spartans and former Spartans who annually play.

  Several out-of-state new professionals are in the field. Most have recently completed their college careers and play in state opens as a way to test the professional waters.

  The Mountain Ridge course, which will be played at par 72 and set up at about 6,115 yards, was designed by noted Michigan architect Bill Newcomb. It features some dramatic elevation changes, natural sand areas and holes cut through towering tunnels of trees.

  The Michigan Women’s Open dates to 1994 and past winners include Michigan Golf Hall of Fame members and former LPGA players Suzy Green-Roebuck, Debbie Williams-Hoak and Elaine Crosby. 

ABOUT CRYSTAL MOUNTAIN: Crystal Mountain was established in 1956, and is a family-owned, four-season resort that is nationally recognized for its skiing, golf, and award-winning spa. Located in northwest-lower-Michigan, a short drive from Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore, the resort features downhill and cross-country skiing, the Michigan Legacy Art Park, 36 holes of championship golf on two courses, Michigan’s only alpine slide, an outdoor water playground, a variety of lodging and dining options, year-round activities and kids programs, an IACC-approved conference center, weddings, real estate and the Crystal Spa. Visit crystalmountain.com.