University of Michigan Golf Course Hosts 98th Michigan Women’s Amateur

The 98th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship will be held starting Monday, August 11 at the University of Michigan Golf Course.

The format calls for 36 holes of stroke play Monday and Tuesday to determine a low 32 scorers to fill out the match play bracket. Match play continues through Friday to determine a champion.

The University of Michigan golf course will be a tough test for Michigan’s best amateur women golfers. It is a classic Alister MacKenzie design that has previously hosted the Michigan Amateur for men, the 1947 NCAA Championship and 12 Big Ten Championships.

As a side note, I absolutely love the University golf course. You can see my review here. I have always said that I’ll never get to play Augusta National, but that as a University of Michigan alumni, I can play a course by the same architect as often as I like.

The 98th Michigan Women’s Amateur is presented by Miles of Golf, Kendall Academy and Titleist. The event lasts from Monday to Friday.

Pictured above is Jennifer Elsholz of Grand Rapids in action earlier this summer at the GAM Women’s Championship at Spring Lake Country Club.

Complete press release follows.

Talented Field gathers for 98th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship

ANN ARBOR – Reigning GAM Women’s Champion Jennifer Elsholz of Grand Rapids is in the field, as is Midland’s Kimberly Dinh, who finished second in the Michigan Women’s Open earlier this summer.

Saline nurse Sarah Hoffman is playing and Michigan State’s Lindsey McPherson of Flushing will compete fresh off her sponsor’s exemption experience in the LPGA Tour event in Grand Rapids this past week.

It’s a talented field that will gather for the 98th Michigan Women’s Amateur Championship presented by Miles of Golf/Kendall Academy/Titleist Monday through Friday at the heralded University of Michigan Golf Course.

Last year’s champion Christine Meier of Rochester Hills has turned professional and is not eligible, and 2012 winner Emmie Pietila of Brighton has withdrawn due to illness, but everybody else it seems will be on hand.

Hailey Hrynewich of Muskegon, 2013’s GAM Junior Girls Player of the Year, is now at Ohio University and will be in the field, as will Donna Benford of Linden, the 2013 GAM Senior Women’s Player of the Year.

University of Michigan golfers Emily White of Saline and Julia Montgomery of Utica, will have some home course knowledge.

Other notables include Hannah Pietila of Brighton, Emmie’s sister and like her a University of Tennessee golfer, yet another Pietila sister, Annie, University of Wisconsin golfer Aya Johnson of Muskegon, Grand Valley State golfer Kelly Hartigan of Lake Orion, Western Michigan University golfer Kaitlyn Watkins of Frankenmuth, and the ever-present Michigan State contingent, including Greer Clausen, who won last year’s GAM Tournament of Champions, Gabby Yurik of Rochester, Mariah Massa of Holt and Mackenzie Johnson and Jacqueline Setas of East Lansing.

Budding junior star Anika Dy of Traverse City, who turned 13 the day she won the GAM Stroke Play Girls title last month, is in the field, too.

Elsholz won the GAM Women’s Championship last month at Spring Lake Country Club by one shot over Hoffman,  Hannah Pietila and McPherson.

Also last month, Dinh shot a course and tournament record 10-under-par 62 in the first round of the Michigan Women’s Open on Crystal Mountain Resort’s Mountain Ridge Course. She finished the tournament in a tie for second by two shots to Symetra Tour pro Becca Huffer, and was low amateur in the Open for a second consecutive year.

The loaded field and historic tournament that dates to 1914 will battle on a historic Alister Mackenzie-designed golf course that has previously hosted the Michigan Amateur Championship for men as well as the 1947 NCAA Championships, 12 Big Ten Championships and several other significant tournaments since opening in 1931.

It is one of just six Mackenzie courses in the United States, which also includes Crystal Downs Country Club in Frankfort and Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Ga., the home of the Masters Tournament.

The format calls for 36 holes of stroke play Monday and Tuesday to determine a low 32 scorers to fill out the match play bracket. Match play continues through Friday to determine a champion.

The GAM, which will conduct the championship, 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.

For information and tournament results visit http://www.gam.org.