Maybank III Is A 2021 GAM Player of the Year

2021 GAM PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Cheboygan’s PJ Maybank III Tops Junior Boys’ Points List

  FARMINGTON HILLS – PJ Maybank III of Cheboygan feels he played consistent golf through the summer, but that his best stretch of play came in the U.S. Junior Amateur and the Michigan Junior State Amateur in back-to-back weeks in late July.

  “Going there, playing well, and making it to match play in the U.S. Junior Amateur, losing in the first round, but then coming home and winning the Michigan Junior, being the (stroke play) medalist and then winning it again in match play, those were my best back-to-back weeks of the summer,” he said.

  “I had this vision of the U.S. Junior Amateur, my first USGA event, and playing in it at Country Club of North Carolina (Pinehurst, N.C.) blew it out of the water. What a great experience. Then to come home and play well the whole week at the Michigan Junior was something I really wanted to accomplish again.”

  Maybank, 16 and an online junior student through the Cheboygan Schools, has been named the Golf Association of Michigan Junior Boys’ Player of the Year, Kyle Wolfe, director of junior golf for the GAM announced today. It is the second consecutive year Maybank has earned the honor.

  GAM Players of the Year are determined by the Player of the Year points system presented by Carl’s Golfland. Points totals can be found on a pull down from the PLAY tab at GAM.org.

  Previously James Piot of Canton was named the GAM Men’s Player of the Year, Kimberly Dinh of Midland was named the Women’s Player of the Year, Terry Delcamp of Grand Blanc was named the Senior Women’s Player of the Year, Jerry Gunthorpe of Ovid was named the Senior Men’s Player of the Year, Rick Herpich of Orchard Lake was named the Super Senior Player of the Year and Sophie Stevens of Highland was named the Junior Girls’ Player of the Year.

   Next week the GAM will announce 15-and-under Junior Players of the Year.

  Maybank, a member through Hidden River Golf & Casting Club in Brutus and Youth on Course Michigan, won two AJGA tournaments over the summer – the AJGA Coca-Cola Junior Championship at Boyne Highlands Resort in Harbor Springs and the Randy Wise Junior Open at Spring Meadows Country Club in Linden. With his second consecutive Michigan Junior State Amateur title he finished with 1,770 Player of the Year points.

  Justin Sui of Lake Orion and a member through Youth on Course Michigan finished second with 856 points. Sui was the runner-up to Maybank in the Michigan Junior State Amateur and also the Coca-Cola Junior.

  Lorenzo Pinili of Rochester Hills and Warwick Hills Golf & Country Club, the winner of the GAM Junior Invitational, was third with 793 points. Jack Zubkus of Ada and Egypt Valley Country Club was fourth with 709 points. Rounding out the top five was Ieuan Jones of Ann Arbor, a member through Youth on Course Michigan, who had 595 points.

   “It feels great to be Player of the Year again,” Maybank said. “I had a really good season and summer and being GAM Player of the Year again was one of the things I was definitely thinking about trying to win again.”

   Maybank, who has verbally committed to golf powerhouse Oklahoma University and can sign a letter of intent next November, spends the winter in Orlando, Fla., and is able to work on his game with his long-time teacher Brian O’Neill, the director of instruction and owner or Orlando Golf Academy and a former golf professional at Boyne Highlands. Last winter he worked primarily on his putting.

  “That really paid off with the season I had, and this winter I’m working hard on my chipping and my 50-yards-and-in shots,” Maybank said. “I hit the ball far enough that I end up with a lot of wedge shots, and I need to get better at scoring with them.”

  Wolfe said Maybank is a great example of winning breeding confidence.

  “PJ has had a lot of good finishes in the last couple of years and he keeps building on that and keeps his game at a high level,” he said. “He’s the type of talented golfer what we don’t see here in Michigan often, maybe once every 10 years or so. He’s also a hard worker, and very appreciative of his family, friends and coaches. He has a lot of the physical and technical golf capability, so I think his growth going forward will be managing the mental side of the game and the expectations around his play.”