Muskegon Country Club Hosting GAM Senior Match Play Championship

Muskegon Country Club Hosting GAM Senior Match Play Championship

   MUSKEGON – Muskegon Country Club and its classic Donald Ross-designed golf course will host the top senior golfers in Michigan in the 14th GAM Senior Match Play Championship next Tuesday through Friday.

   A field of 150 senior golfers will compete with overall Senior (age 55-plus) and Super Senior (age 65-plus) titles at stake.

  The field will play 18 holes on Tuesday to determine a bracket of 32 for the Senior division and a bracket of 16 for the Super Senior bracket. Matches will start Wednesday and continue through to Friday morning’s championship matches in each division.

  The Donald Ross-designed Muskegon Country Club course has hosted several GAM championships and USGA qualifiers, including the Michigan Amateur Championships of 2005 and 2013, a GAM Senior Championship, two GAM Women’s Championships and the 2019 GAM Championship for men.

  The club was founded in 1908 on 130 acres of sand dune overlooking Lake Michigan and features rolling terrain and fescue lined fairways. It can play up to 6,697 yards from the back tees, and in Ross fashion features challenging green settings.

  The course was originally laid out by noted designer Thomas Bendelow but in 1920 was redesigned by Ross. In recent years the club has concentrated on removing some trees and returning the design to the original setting Ross created.

  Stephany Pawlowski is the director of golf at MCC, and Jeff Hopkins is the superintendent. Learn more at muskegoncc.com.

  Last year Ann Arbor’s David LeVan hit a 35-yard flop shot from the right rough to just inches from the cup on the final hole for a birdie to turn back Robert Matthiesen of Mason 1-up at Gull Lake Golf Club & Resort’s Stoatin Brea course. Seeded 31 in the 32-golfer match play field he earned his first GAM win and was presented the Jerry A. Walker Memorial Trophy.

   In the Super Senior Division final, Larry Vaughan, a Detroit native who returns home from his North Carolina residence to compete in GAM tournaments each summer, capped the week by making it a sweep of first-time GAM winners when he topped Jackson’s Pete Walz 3 and 2 in that final.

  LeVan and Vaughan are defending their titles in a stellar field that includes eight past overall champions including three-time champion Bill Zylstra of Dearborn Heights, two-time champions Rich Wilson of Portage and Randy Lewis of Alma, 2019 winner Kevin Klemet of White Lake, 2016 winner Steve Maddalena of Jackson, 2013 champ Mike Raymond of Jackson and 2012 champion Ray Emsley of Davisburg. Two-time Super Senior winners Ian Harris of Bloomfield Hills and George Dillon of Midland are also playing.