The legenday Oakland Hills Country Club—host of 16 Major Championships—will host the Golf Association of Michigan’s Tournament of Champions on Monday, October 13.
The tournament features 144 Michigan Champions golfers who each won a member club championship or a 2014 GAM championship. This is the finale of the Golf Association of Michigan championship schedule.
Playing Oakland Hills is on my bucket list, but there’s no way I’ll ever win a club or GAM Championship. I’ll need to make friends with an Oakland Hills member.
Full press release follows.
BLOOMFIELD HILLS – Oakland Hills Country Club has hosted 16 major championships, including six U.S. Opens and is Michigan’s national golf treasure.
A field of 144 championship-decorated golfers will get the honor of playing at the storied club Monday in the GAM Tournament of Champions presented by Preferred Data Systems. Any winner of their member club championship or a 2014 GAM championship is eligible to compete in the grand finale of the 2014 championship schedule.
The field will fittingly feature many of the state’s top golfers, who will compete over 18 holes of stroke play. The men will take on the storied South Course, or “Monster” as Ben Hogan dubbed it after winning the 1951 U.S. Open. The women will play on the North Course, which has been a regular site of GAM championships including multiple Michigan Amateur Championships (1992, 2012).
Oakland Hills was founded in 1916 and has impacted golf history since opening. Legend Walter Hagen was the club’s first head professional, and Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Hogan are among winners on the South Course, which in addition to being a U.S. Open venue has hosted three PGA Championships and the 35th Ryder Cup in 2004.
Top players registered for the tournament include Randy Lewis of Alma, who won the 1992 Michigan Amateur on the North Course and Tom Werkmeister of Kentwood, the 2009 Michigan Amateur champion who was the runner-up in the 2012 Amateur won by Drew Preston of Ada on the North Course.
Greg Reynolds of Grand Blanc, a former U.S. Senior Amateur winner and multiple winner of the GAM Tournament of Champions, 2013 GAM Player of the Year Brad Bastion of Shelby Township, this summer’s GAM Champion Ryan Johnson of New Boston, Nathan Clark of Charlotte, Greg Davies of West Bloomfield, Scott Strickland of Birmingham and GAM Junior Stroke Play Champion James Piot of Canton are in the men’s field.
Terry Delcamp of Grand Blanc, the recent GAM Senior Women’s Champion, defending champion Greer Clausen of Bloomfield Hills, GAM Junior Stroke Play champion Anika Dy of Traverse City and Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll of Haslett, a two-time Michigan Amateur Champion, are notables in the women’s field.
The Tournament of Champions for men has been presented since 1984, and the women have competed since 1993.
The GAM was founded in 1919 as the governing body for amateur golf in the state. As a not-for-profit organization, the GAM’s purpose is to represent, promote, preserve, and serve the best interests of the game. The GAM provides membership to more than 60,000 golfers and more than 400 golf courses while conducting 19 amateur championships and 14 United States Golf Association (USGA) qualifying events.
Discover more from GolfBlogger Golf Blog
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
